


Stayin' at the Shack

by InsoFox



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Adventure, Basically a continuation of Gravity Falls, Dipper accepts Ford's apprenticeship AU, F/M, More tags to be added, Mystery, Twins stay in Gravity Falls, discontinued, young Wendy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23823262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsoFox/pseuds/InsoFox
Summary: After Weirdmageddon, Dipper accepts Ford's apprenticeship offer as long as Mabel, who is also staying in Gravity Falls, gets to come with them on any adventures. Wendy's age gets reversed, making her thirteen again, and when Ford offers her an apprenticeship as well, she takes him up on the offer. Lighthearted fic, eventual Wendip. Rated T for safety. Story better than description!
Relationships: Wendy Corduroy/Dipper Pines
Comments: 21
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hi everyone! I had an idea for a fic where Wendy was the same age as Dipper and Mabel, and it turned into this. I'm super excited to write this! I'm planning on making this a fairly lighthearted fic, basically a year-round Gravity Falls. Wendy being young won't be a major plot point, since it's only a two year difference, but it definitely helps with setting up the story. Also, side note, sorry if anyone seems out of character. I'm still getting used to writing them.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Gravity Falls yet, although I am going to try breaking into Disney and taking them. I'll keep you posted.

Wendy sat up and looked around. Bill was gone! The last thing she remembered, Bill had picked up everyone in the Zodiac except for Mabel and Dipper and the two Stans. After that, it was hazy. Now she was lying on a bed in what she recognized as one of the spare bedrooms at the Shack. She noticed Dipper sitting nearby, looking anxious. As soon as she began to move, relief washed over his face.

"Dipper, wha-" Wendy cut off as she heard her voice. Something about it had seemed… off.

"Wendy, you're alright!" Dipper stood up, but then hesitated. "Well, we still don't know if you'll be completely alright, but at least you're alive!"

"Dipper, what do you mean? What happened?" As she talked, Wendy continued to try to figure out what was wrong with her voice. The sound was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Grunkle Ford theorized that part of what Bill was made of was time itself. Once he was gone, a few beams of time escaped and hit other things, affecting them. We believe that one hit the Mystery Shack, bringing it back to how it was before we turned into the Shacktron, which is good, but we also think…" Dipper trailed off, looking nervous.

"Think what?" A sense of dread began to cover Wendy, and her voice took on an edge of nervousness.

"Well, we think that one of the beams hit you, and reversed your age by several years."

Wendy sat bolt upright. "WHAT? Several _years?_ " Dipper nodded. "How many?!"

"We think between two and three, which would make you right about thirteen."

"Seriously?" Dipper nodded again. Wendy let out a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. "Great. Now I get to go through two _more_ years of acne, angst, and pain." Wendy swung her legs out to the side of the bed, sighing as she saw how short they were. She pushed herself up to stand right as Dipper stood up, and she was surprised to find that she was still taller than him. Everything else, however, looked taller than she remembered. _Still,_ Wendy thought, _at least I'm not dead or some junk._ In a few years, she would be back to normal.

Wendy felt her legs start to wobble and sat back down, making Dipper wince. "Yeah, uh, you might not want to start doing too much physical activity yet. For one, your muscles are back to how they were when you were twelve, but your mind is used to the fifteen year-old ones. You'll have to start building up strength again. Second, you haven't eaten in like two days."

As if on cue, Wendy's stomach rumbled. "Two days? Is that how long I was out?"

"Yeah," Dipper said, walking over to the door. "Everything in the town is back to normal. Well," he said with a small chuckle. "As normal as normal is around here. I'll go see if I can find something for you to eat."

As she heard Dipper walk downstairs, Wendy began to think. What did this mean for her social life? Her group of friends had been pretty chill with Dipper and Mabel, so they would probably be fine with her. What about her family? Oh no… her dad! Wendy began to worry. Did her dad have any idea what had happened to her? He had always been close to his kids… and if he thought one of them was dead…

Just then, Dipper walked through the door, holding a tall glass of water and a sandwich. "We had some BLTs left over from lunch, so I figured you might want one of those."

Wendy gratefully took the sandwich, but before she began to eat, she asked "Dipper, does my dad know about this? If he has no idea where I am, then that really wouldn't be good."

"Actually," Dipper replied, "he's the one that found you. When he saw that something had happened to you, he brought you to us, since he knew that we had experience with stuff like this. He wanted to know if there was any way to reverse it."

Wendy had been just about to take a bite of the BLT, but she lowered it and asked, " _Is_ there a way to reverse this?"

Dipper launched into a whole technical monologue that Wendy tried to listen to as she ate her sandwich, but he quickly lost her. Finally, after she had finished the BLT and drunk the water, he finished with "So basically, short of summoning another demon from the Nightmare Realm, no. There is no way to reverse this."

Wendy frowned. She didn't want to be thirteen again, but two years definitely weren't worth another Weirdmageddon. Just then, Mabel burst into the room, holding a drink of her own. "Don't worry Wendy! Mabel's here! When I heard that you were awake, I whipped a batch of Mabel juice! It even has double the fun!"

Dipper immediately looked concerned. "Double the- what? Mabel, I don't think that that's the best thing for Wendy to be drinking right now."

"You don't know what you're talking about, bro-bro! Mabel juice is the _perfect_ thing for her to be drinking right now!" She strolled over and handed the glass to Wendy, who shrugged and drank it. Her first impression was that it was overwhelmingly sweet, almost like cough syrup. Dipper face palmed and sighed.

After a few seconds, Wendy decided to try standing again. This time, to her surprise, there wasn't even a trace of wobble, and she could walk just fine! "See," Mabel said happily, "that was just what she needed!" With that, Dipper's twin flounced out of the room, a satisfied look on her face. Dipper watched her go and sighed.

Wendy had another realization. "Dipper, you said I've been out for two days?" Dipper nodded. "Dude, don't you guys have a birthday coming up?"

Dipper nodded again. "Tomorrow, actually! After that… I guess Mabel and I have to go home…" Wendy noticed a sad look in his eyes, but she saw it disappear just as quickly as it had arrived. "Unless… Wendy, I have an idea! Be right back!" Dipper practically ran out of the room, hitting his face on a post as he went. "Ow… stupid…"

Wendy got up to go after him and was happy to find that she could walk just fine. What _did_ Mabel put into that juice?

…

Dipper knocked on the door of the attic room that he shared with Mabel, and his sister was quick to respond with "Come in!" Opening the door, Dipper found Mabel sitting on the ground, attempting to make a macaroni face. At the moment, though, she was more occupied with stopping Waddles from eating all of the pasta.

"Mabel, I've been thinking."

"You're always thinking, Dippendots!"

"Yeah, but I've been thinking about what comes next?"

"What do you mean 'what comes next?' Do you mean our birthday party? 'Cause Grunkle Stan and Soos are handling that." Dipper shook his head. "Oh, you mean…" Mabel's face fell. "The end of summer…"

"Yeah, Mabel, that is what I mean. Weirdmageddon made me realize just how much there is in this town we _don't_ know about. I really want to accept Ford's offer," Mabel looked like she was on the verge of tears. " _But"_ Dipper, said, emphasizing the but. "I don't want to do it without you."

Mabel looked up happily for a second, but quickly looked down again. "Dipper, I'm not smart enough to do what you and Grunkle Ford do. You guys are so smart… I don't think I could even get through one day."

"Mabel, I've thought that through too. I would accept Ford's offer with two conditions. One, for any adventures we go on, you would have to be able to come with us. Two, we would have to spend most of our time in Gravity Falls most of the time. That way, you could go to Gravity Falls school, and we could still be together! And if Grunkle Ford says no to either of those things, then I say no to his offer."

When Mabel looked up again, there were tears in her eyes, but they weren't tears of sadness. They were tears of happiness. "You mean it bro-bro?"

"I mean it. I'll go talk to Grunkle Ford."

…

"Grunkle Ford," Dipper said, stepping out of the elevator down to his Great Uncle's lab. "Do you, uh, do you have time to talk?"

Stanford Pines looked up from the calculations that he had been making. "Sure! What is it, Dipper?"

"I think I want to accept your offer of an apprenticeship!"

"Really?" Ford looked quite happy. "That's great? What about Mabel though? Will she be alright?"

"Actually," Dipper said, "that's something else I want to talk about. I'll accept your offer on two conditions. One, Mabel has to come with us whenever we go on any adventures. Two, we have to be in Gravity Falls most of the time."

Ford nodded. "I was actually going to suggest that second one anyways. There are more secrets in this town than even I know about, and I want to explore them. About that first one, though, won't that be a bit of a challenge? I don't think we can pick her up from California every time we go anywhere."

"You're right. I was thinking that maybe she could attend the Gravity Falls school?"

Ford grinned. "Of course! Why didn't we think about that originally? We'll have to let your parents know, though. I imagine having both of their children leave home at such a young age will be a bit jarring for them."

Dipper's face fell slightly. "Yeah, I didn't think about that. I think that if you prove to them that you can give me just as good of an education as the classes at home, they'll be more willing to let us stay."

"Dipper, you have no idea how happy I am that you reconsidered! There are so many places in this town that I want to explore, and having you and Mabel by my side will be phenomenal. I'll go call your parents." The two rode up the elevator to the main floor, where decorations for the party were being put up. "Wait here," Ford said, before walking into his room. As he shut his door to block out the noise, Dipper saw him pull out his satellite phone.

"Boo!"

"AHH!" Dipper let out a shout as he felt someone touch him from behind. He flipped around to find Wendy nearly rolling on the floor with laughter.

"Dude, you should have seen your face!" Wendy managed to get out through bursts of laughter.

Dipper rolled his eyes, but didn't give a response. After all, what _could_ he say? She had gotten him, and she had gotten him good.

"So man, what are you doing?"

"I'm just waiting for Grunkle Ford. He's making a phone call right now."

"A phone call? To who?"

"I can't tell you. It's a secret." Dipper replied. He didn't want to tell anyone about accepting Ford's offer, because he didn't want them to get their hopes up. If everyone thought that he was going to stay, but then his parents said no, then it would just make the goodbye that much more painful.

Just then, Mabel appeared out of nowhere (as usual) and startled Dipper yet again. "Hey bro-bro! Did Ford say yes yet? Are Mom and Dad okay with it?"

Dipper jumped yet again. After Weirdmageddon, he didn't know how much more scaring he could take! "Mabel," he said hurriedly. "Keep it down! Don't tell other people yet!" He glanced over at Wendy and winced.

The redhead's eyes lit up as she put two and two together. "Wait, you said that you were going to try to find a way to stay, and you're asking Ford something. Does this mean that you're taking his apprenticeship offer?" Reluctantly, Dipper nodded. "But wait, Mabel said 'we.' What is she gonna do?"

Mabel, who had grappled up to one of the rafters and was now hanging upside down, answered before Dipper could. "I'm gonna go to school here! It's gonna be great!"

Both twins noticed as Wendy's grin faltered. "Wendy?" Dipper asked. "What's wrong?"

Before she got the chance to respond, Ford opened the door to his room. "Dipper, your parents are coming up. They want to meet me."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey everyone, this is chapter two! I had a lot of fun writing this one, and it ended up being longer than I thought it would! I just want to say that I have no idea what the update schedule for this story will be. It probably won't be consistent, so it could be anywhere from a few days to a month. Also, thank you to those who commented and gave kudos! It makes my day!
> 
> Disclaimer: Alex Hirsch appears to have hired Ford to build his home security system. It'll be harder than I thought to get the Gravity Falls rights. More updates soon.

“Wait, my parents are coming up here?” Dipper asked.

His Great Uncle Ford nodded. “I didn’t tell them much over the phone, but I explained that I was Stan’s brother, and that I would take you as my apprentice. I had to explain that I have twelve PhDs to get them to even consider it! They want to come up and meet me. We’ll just have to be careful to not show them anything too weird. To somebody not used to Gravity Falls, some of the things here can be… overwhelming. Hey, I’ve been studying this town for years and some of this stuff is still terrifying.” As Ford got done speaking, he seemed to notice Wendy for the first time. “Ah, Ms. Corduroy! You’re awake! Good! I trust one of the twins filled you in on what happened?” Wendy nodded, and Ford noticed that she had a sad look in her eyes. “Hey,” he said, trying to console her, “it’ll be alright. The two years will be over before you know it!”

“Well,” Wendy said, “it’s not that. Weird junk happens in this town all the time. Just… Dipper and Mabel talking about going to school here made me wonder about what’s going to happen with me going to school. I mean, they would probably let me go on to the next year like nothing had happened, but it’s a little hard for a thirteen year old to fit in with a bunch of high schoolers. And I  _ really _ don’t want to go back to middle school” She shuddered at the thought. 

Ford thought for a second. He knew that this girl got along with Dipper, and she seemed to be extremely clever when she applied herself. For the first time in what felt like ages, Ford made a snap decision. He just hoped he wouldn’t regret it. “Well, if you would like, I’m sure I could handle two apprentices. Plus, it’s been proven that people learn better when they have peers, so Dipper would benefit as well.”

A grin grew on Wendy’s face. “You mean it Mr. Pines? Do you think I can learn all of that stuff that Dipper always talks about?”

Ford found a smile forming on his own face. “I mean it, and please, call me Ford. Mr. Pines just feels… too formal. And you don’t have to learn all of it. I think Dipper’s learned most of that stuff for fun. Dipper and I can handle most of the technical stuff, but you would still benefit much more from an apprenticeship than going through two grades for a second time.”

Just then, their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a hammer, followed by a loud yell. “SWEET MOTHER OF-! SOOS! YOU GET TO HAMMER STUFF UP NOW!” Ford, Wendy, and the twins let out a collective chuckle. 

“Anyways Dipper, your parents will be here tomorrow for your birthday. We should make sure that they don’t see anything too weird. I should get back to my calculations now. Ms. Corduroy-”

Wendy cut him off. “Hey, if I have to call you Ford, then you have to call me Wendy.” 

“Fair enough,” Ford said with a chuckle. This girl would be fun! “Wendy, I would recommend talking to your father. He knows that you’re okay, but from what Dipper says he’ll definitely want to see you as soon as possible.” 

Wendy agreed, and went downstairs to talk to Soos about getting a ride home. Before too long, Ford walked back down to his lab. There were several lasting effects of Weirdmageddon that he wanted to look into.

**…**

The next morning, Dipper was awoken by Mabel pulling on his arm and yelling happily. “Dipper! We’re teenagers now!” She made her voice deep and stood up straight. “Bigger, stronger, and better than ever before, thirteen year-old Mabel Pines is ready to take on the world!”

Chuckling, Dipper sat up. “Hey teenage Mabel, you have your sweater on backwards.”

Mabel glanced down for a second before staring off resolutely into space again. “That, oh brother of mine, is a sign of maturity only known by teenagers.” The two continued joking and laughing as they got ready for the day. As they made their way downstairs, they found Wendy and Soos sitting at the kitchen table, talking. They stopped as soon as they saw the twins. 

“Hey dudes!” Soos said, his face lighting up. “Happy birthday!”

“Mornin’ guys.” Wendy said with a nod. “Happy birthday.”

The twins thanked both of them and began to get themselves breakfast. Dipper got out the cereal, but Mabel quickly grabbed the box out of his hands. “Hey- Mabel!” 

“Come on, bro-bro! It’s our birthday, and you want to have-” Mabel glanced down at the box. “Oat-ohs? Nuh-uh. We have to do something  _ special _ ! One batch of Mabel cakes, coming right up!” 

“Mabel cakes? Really?” The slightly older twin nodded happily. Resigned to his fate, Dipper sighed and sat down next to Soos. 

“Oh yeah, I’m supposed to tell you guys that your mom and dad will be here at two o’clock today.” The handyman sighed. “I’m gonna miss you guys, ya know? This summer’s been like a dream come true. That’s why Wendy and I came in to give you guys a birthday you’ll never forget.” The three seated were silent, lost in their own thoughts, until Mabel startled them with a shout.

“Mabel cakes are ready! Eat up!” She set a plate full of bright pink pancakes covered in chocolate chips, candy, and various other sweet things.

Soos was the first to reach forward and grab one, and his eyes grew wide as he took a bite. “Dude, these are amazing! You could be, like, a chef or something!”

  
“Aww, thanks Soos!” Mabel sat down and loaded up her plate with Mabel Cakes. Dipper tried one and found that they were very sweet, but not too bad. As they were eating, Grunkle Stan strolled into the kitchen and grunted.

“What are those things? Did a unicorn throw up or somethin’?”

“No, Grunkle Stan,” Mabel said with a smile. “Those are a batch of “Soon-to-be-world-famous Mabel Cakes!”

“Huh,” came the reply. “I think I’ll just stick with coffee and cereal.” While the other four continued to talk, Dipper began to think about his parents’ upcoming visit. What if they decided that the Mystery Shack wasn’t safe? What if they didn’t like Grunkle Stan? Yesterday, Dipper’s decision to stay in Gravity Falls had seemed like a good idea. Now, after he had thought it through, it seemed like there was no way his parents would ever let even one of them stay. Both? Not in a million years. 

After breakfast, Soos and Wendy announced that they would be taking Mabel and Dipper on a final goodbye tour of the town. As Soos said the word “goodbye,” Wendy gave Dipper a wink, but he only gave her a weak smile back. No matter how much he wanted to stay, his parents would likely be taking him home that evening. There was a reason that he didn’t want to tell anyone else. He didn’t want to get their hopes up.

**…**

Later that day, after the tour was done, Dipper kept glancing at his wristwatch. He knew that his parents wouldn’t be here  _ exactly _ at two, but his mind had started a countdown nonetheless. He was supposed to be sweeping the gift shop, but he couldn’t concentrate. Glance at the watch, wait a few seconds, then glance at the watch again. The hands seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace, while also flying around the watch face. Two o’clock grew closer and closer. Dipper waited with bated breath. What would his parents think about the Mystery Shack? Would they think that it was a quaint little building designed to draw in tourists, or would they see it as a run down place that was no place for kids to get an education?

Finally, five minutes after two, his dad’s pickup truck pulled into the yard. “Mabel! Mom and Dad are here!” Dipper had to yell, since his sister was uip in their room. After a few seconds, he heard her bounding down the steps, and watched as she ran past him to go greet their parents. As Dipper himself got outside, he saw Mabel nearly tackle their mother in a hug, right as she was getting out of the car. Dipper ran over to his father and gave him a hug as well. Just because he was anxious about their visit didn’t mean that he hadn’t missed his parents!

“Hey there kiddo,” his dad said. “Happy Birthday! did you have a good summer?”

“Oh, did I ever!” Dipper began to rattle off some of the things he had done without mentioning any of the supernatural elements. The night before, he and Mabel had agreed not to tell their parents about anything that would make them even less willing to let their kids stay in Gravity Falls. They had stayed up late thinking of ways to make their various adventures still seem plausible without including anything dangerous or supernatural. 

Dipper’s father laughed. “Man, sounds like you and your sister have been busy! I mean, you guys even got a new great uncle! That doesn’t happen everyday, you know! Speaking of which, I’d like to meet him! Dad never said anything about another brother, but he never really talked about his family much anyways. Should we head inside?” Dipper nodded, and the family of four strolled into the Mystery Shack, where Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford were waiting for them. 

At first, Dipper’s dad just looked back and forth between the two with a confused look on his face. After a few seconds, he leaned down to Dipper and whispered “Nobody said anything about twins.” Dipper began to laugh.

“Dad, the one in the fez is Stanley. The one with the coat is Stan _ ford. _ ” Each Grunkle waved as Dipper said their name. 

His dad frowned. “What do you do if they change clothes? We never had to worry about this with you and Mabel.” Rather than responding with words, Dipper just watched as both of his Grunkles raised their hands, showing the difference in fingers. “Oh.” Was the only response from his dad.

After lots more pleasantries were exchanged, Grunkle Stan took them on a tour of the Mystery Shack. Dipper carefully watched his parents’ faces throughout the tour, and was glad when they didn’t seem to see anything concerning. If his parents had decided that the Mystery Shack was unsafe or not suitable for the twins to live, then that could’ve meant that he and Mabel wouldn’t be allowed to come back next summer!

Fortunately, though, Grunkle Stan was able to keep Dipper’s parents focused on the more positive aspects of the Shack, and they seemed to like it. Once they were done, they walked into the kitchen/living room and found Grunkle Ford sitting at the table, looking serious. Dipper’s anxiousness reappeared as soon as it had gone. There was nothing that he wanted more than to stay at the Shack with Mabel, and his parents’ conversation with Grunkle Ford would be one of the biggest factors that determined whether or not that could happen. 

“So,” Ford began, “What do you think?”

Dipper’s mom spoke first. “It seems… fun! I mean, I don’t think  _ I  _ would want to live here, but if Mabel and Dipper enjoyed it, then I think it’s a great place for them.” Dipper’s dad nodded his agreement.

“Now,” said Ford, “there’s no sense in beating around the bush. You two are here because Dipper would like to become my apprentice, and Mabel would like to stay with him. You two are the ones that have to make the call, so what questions do you have for me? I am an open book.”

Dipper’s dad was first to ask a question. “Okay, where have you been? Why have I never heard of you? It’s obvious that you’re a Pines, but how did you just… disappear?”

Ford recited the answer that he had come up with the night before. “It’s still fairly classified,” he said, leaning in, “so you can’t tell anyone about this, but I was with the government on a research vessel in the Baltic Sea. We knew that the Russians had been dumping nuclear waste on a nearby site, and we wanted to evaluate the long term effects of exposed radiation. We were there for  _ years. _ We were only finally recalled this summer.”

Dipper’s mother was next. “You said over the phone that you were ‘qualified to teach Dipper,’ but so are Dipper’s teachers. What makes you think that you’ll be a better teacher than the ones he’ll have in Piedmont? His math teacher has  _ two  _ PhDs!”

Without saying a word, Ford walked upstairs to his room and came downstairs holding a box. He set the box on the table and proceeded to pull out framed paper after framed paper. Dipper watched his mother’s eyebrows rise higher and higher as Ford laid his numerous doctorates out on the table. Finally, after all twelve were out, Dipper’s mom simply nodded, and Ford packed them away.

Once he had put his degrees back in his room and come downstairs, Dipper’s mom turned to Mabel and asked her a question. “Mabel, what about your friends in Piedmont? Are you ready to let them go?”

For once, Mabel was completely serious. “Yes, I am. I’ve made friends this summer that would be much, much harder to leave behind.”

Dipper could see that Mabel’s demeanor communicated more of the answer to his mom than anything Mabel had said. 

They talked some more, with Dipper’s parents asking questions of both sets of twins before they both were out of things to ask, and began to talk with each other.

“Fred, I just don’t like it! What about us? It’s our job as parents to raise our kids, not let someone else do it for us!”

“No, Amy, it’s our job to do what’s best for our kids. The way I see it, this apprenticeship can offer a much better, more personalized experience for Dipper. And I don’t think we can just leave Dipper and bring Mabel home! Splitting them up… Amy, it would be like if I just left you here and went home. It just wouldn’t be right!”

Dipper felt some hope rising in him. His dad had always been the one that was willing to let him and Mabel do stuff, while his mom was typically the cautious one. He hadn’t been expecting either parent to be open to the idea, so it was already much better than what he had been anticipating. 

Dipper’s mom stared off into space, and it became apparent to everyone in the room that she was thinking hard. “What about spending time with them? Fred, you were the one that always wanted to go out into the woods with Dipper to ‘build character’ and make memories with him!”

“Amy, what’s more important? Building character in the woods, or making sure that our kids are getting the best shot at success that they can? Besides, we can still see them on holidays and birthdays! We can find a compromise.”

Everyone waited with bated breath as Dipper’s mom thought it over. Eventually, she sighed in defeat. “Fine. We’ll have to let Principal Sylvan know that he’ll have two fewer students.” 

Dipper couldn’t believe it! His parents were actually letting him stay in Gravity Falls! He ran over and hugged his mother tightly, who looked up at his dad in surprise. Mabel was always the physical one, and a hug from Dipper showed just how much he cared about this.

After a few minutes, Dipper’s dad glanced outside and noted with some surprise that the sun was setting. “Alright you two, I believe we have a birthday to celebrate!”

**…**

Outside at the party, Dipper leaned back and sighed contentedly. For the first time in 24 hours, he wasn’t worried about his parents, or being able to stay. He was going to be able to live in the town that he had fallen in love with! Not only that, but Mabel would be able to stay with him, and he would get to go on adventures with her, Grunkle Ford, and Wendy! 

Wendy… Dipper looked over and saw the redhead talking to his mother. As Dipper watched, his mom burst into laughter and Wendy struggled to keep herself from doing the same. Dipper marveled at how quickly she had adapted to having her age reversed. Weird things were normal in Gravity Falls, but Dipper suspected that age reversal wasn’t something that happened too often. Still, Wendy had taken it in stride and moved on. 

**...**

Lost in his thoughts, Dipper didn’t notice that his dad had sat down next to him. Fred Pines followed his son’s sightline and saw that he was looking at the young redhead that was talking to Amy. Mabel had briefly mentioned something about Dipper having a crush earlier. Maybe this was the girl?

“Your mother seems to like her,” Fred opened, watching with amusement as his son jumped in surprise.

“Uh, uh, yeah, I guess she does.”

“So what’s her name?”

Dipper blushed.  _ Oh yeah,  _ Fred thought.  _ This is the girl.  _ “Uh, Wendy Corduroy. She’s a cashier at the Shack.”

As entertaining as watching his son get embarrassed was, Fred decided not to push it any further. “Anyways, I just wanted to see how you were holding up. This is going to be a big change for your mom and I. I suspect that once we get into the truck to go home, she’ll start talking about ‘how she never should have left you guys’ and ‘how could we ever let you guys leave home so early.’ Like I said earlier, we’ll make something work.”

**...**

Dipper felt some pangs of guilt. He had been so caught up with wanting to accept Ford’s offer that he hadn’t really considered how his parents would feel. “Yeah,” he said, feeling much less content than he had a few minutes before. “I’ll miss you guys.”

“Hey bud, don’t feel bad. This is a great opportunity for you two! Hey, if Ford had been around when I was a kid and had offered to teach me, I would’ve done everything I could’ve to get my parents to let me. Your mom and I will be fine. Your future is more important than anything else right now. Except cake. That cake is very important.”

**…**

Late that night, Dipper laid in his bed, thinking. His parents had gone home, but they would be back again the next day with some of Mabel’s and his things, since they would be living in the Shack permanently. 

Saying goodbye tonight had been hard, and they were going to see each other again the next day. It would be infinitely harder tomorrow. When would they see each other again? Thanksgiving? Christmas? Who knew?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that was chapter two! Please let me know what you thought, or if there's anything that you would to see in future chapters! (Also, side note, I realize that Dipper's parents are referred to as "Dipper's Mom" and "Dipper's Dad" a lot. This is because most of the chapter is Dipper's view, and I have to believe that he thinks of his parents as "mom and dad" and not "Amy and Fred.")


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey everyone, I don't have much to say here, but I just wanted to thank you guys for reading and reviewing. It means a lot!
> 
> Disclaimer: So I found out that Alex Hirsch's home security system doesn't detect penguins for some reason. Needless to say, the local zoo is now missing a few birds. More updates soon.

Dipper watched his dad's pickup truck drive off, and felt a pang of guilt. He wanted to stay in Gravity Falls, there was no doubt about that, but he still felt bad for his parents. He imagined that having one kid move away from home was bad enough, but both leaving at the same time must be a lot worse. After they had brought the rest of Dipper and Mabel's things up to the attic room, Dipper's parents hugged their children and said goodbye. Interestingly, Dipper had noticed that his mom hadn't been as emotional as he had expected her to be. Rather than the crying mess that he had anticipated, she had seemed almost excited about something. But what?

Shrugging, Dipper made his way up to his room to unpack all of the things that his parents had brought from home. As he looked through the boxes, he felt a twinge of sadness at the thought that his home in Piedmont wasn't really his home anymore. He was going to miss his, well, he wouldn't exactly call them friends, but they were acquaintances.

Dipper glanced over at a picture on the nightstand of him, Mabel, Wendy, and Soos in the Mystery Cart seeing how fast they could really make it go, all with grins plastered onto their faces. The people he had met in Gravity Falls, though? _They_ were friends. Even though he was a little sad, Dipper laid back on his bed and smiled. He still couldn't believe it! He was going to live in Gravity Falls!

…

Wendy sighed. She was bored! Her family was all out fishing, and they had just left her home! The novelty of being a thirteen year old again had only lasted for so long, but now she was just annoyed. All of that time and effort she had spent building muscles? Wasted. Still, she supposed, things could be worse. At least her memory hadn't been reversed. Wendy shuddered at that thought. She did _not_ want to go back to when she was thirteen mentally. Those had been dark days…

Shaking herself out of her reverie, the redhead began looking for something to entertain her. Because the Corduroy clan spent most of their time outside or with each other, the cabin was kept pretty bare. Wendy recalled the advice that Dipper had given her right after she had woken up. Start building up muscles again as soon as possible to get your body close to how it was before. She let out an audible moan. Working out by yourself was so boring! Normally she would do something with her brothers, but they were all gone. Was there anyone else that could be a running buddy? After thinking for a few minutes, Wendy thought of someone that could really use some training. _Yeah,_ she thought, a grin coming across her face. _He'll be fun._

…

Wendy had decided to try and get Dipper to help her build up endurance again for a few reasons, but the main one was that he really needed some help in the physical department. She didn't think that he'd ever be running marathons, but it would definitely be helpful for him to be able to run for fairly long distances. Besides, maybe she could give him a little survival training too. Her mandatory apocalypse training had saved her quite a few times.

Dipper was sitting on the end of his bed reading a book when Wendy looked in through the window, and the redhead had to stop herself from letting out a snort. It was almost the end of summer, and what was Dipper doing? Reading a book. A rather thick one too, by the looks of it. _Perfect._ Wendy was dangling from a rope, so she was able to hang in place as she began fidgeting with the window. The latch emitted a slight creak, making Wendy quickly pull herself up. Fortunately, Dipper was so buried in his book that he was oblivious to the noise.

Carefully, Wendy eased open the window and lowered herself onto the desk almost completely silently. Dipper didn't stand a chance.

"Boo!"

At that moment, Wendy had one regret. She wished she had been filming. She had thought that she had scared him before, but his reaction this time took it to a whole new level. He jumped a solid foot into the air (especially impressive because he had been sitting) and let out a noise that was more guttural scream than yell.

Wendy was on the floor laughing before he even landed. That had been hilarious! _But,_ Wendy thought, _that also wouldn't be a good thing if it ever actually mattered._ She quickly sobered up as Dipper recovered, but she couldn't keep herself from cracking a smile at how red his face was.

"Hey," Dipper complained, rubbing his butt where he had hit the ground, "what was that for? How did you even get in?"

"Window. And that was to show that you need help."

Dipper looked confused. "I need help? What do you mean?"

It took Wendy a second to realize that he was being serious. "Dude, I just came in through a window in the middle of the room, and you didn't even notice. If I had wanted to hurt you…" she trailed off, leaving him to imagine the implications.

Dipper blushed. "Yeah," he said sheepishly, "I guess I'm not always super aware of my surroundings."

Wendy snorted. "Understatement of the year, dude. Whatcha readin', anyways?"

"Oh, this?" Dipper glanced down at his book. "Uh, it's just… uh…"

Wendy grabbed the book and read the title. "An Exploration of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus?" She arched an eyebrow. Ford really hadn't been kidding when he had said that this was what Dipper did for fun. Dipper's face, already red, now looked as if it was desperately trying to match Wendy's hair. "C'mon dude, let's go."

"Go where?" Without saying a word, Wendy tied herself back into the rope outside the window and lowered herself down. Dipper shook his head and took the much safer steps.

…

Mabel wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad. She was leaving basically her whole life behind, including all of her friends. _Well,_ thought Mabel as memories with Grenda and Candy from that summer came to mind, _maybe not_ all _of my friends._ Her thoughts were interrupted by a shout from upstairs. Mabel instinctively grabbed her grappling hook and sprinted up the steps. She was nearly to the room that she shared with Dipper when she heard Wendy's laughter. Mabel grinned. Dipper must have gotten scared pretty good for her to hear him downstairs.

Mabel heard Dipper opening the door and quickly sprinted downstairs to where she had been watching a Ducktective spinoff called "Untitled Goose Investigator." It didn't quite have the charm of the original show, but it was still funny at times. A few seconds after she sat down, Dipper came down the steps looking flustered.

"I'm heading out. I'm not sure when I'll be back."

"See ya broseph! Say hi to Wendy for me!" Dipper turned and gave a confused look to his sister before shrugging and opening the door.

…

As they rode on the Mystery Cart, Dipper's mind was racing. He knew that he had told Wendy that she should work on getting her endurance back to how it was, but he hadn't counted on her wanting him to give him "help." Not that he didn't need it. Dipper thought back to when he had been reading in his room. All it took was one time of him getting caught unawares by the wrong person… Yeah. Some survival training was probably for the best. Dipper was weak by normal standards, but compared to some of the monsters they had faced he was a twig.

They pulled into the Corduroys' backyard and Dipper looked around. He had been expecting some sort of obstacle course filled with death traps, but the only thing there was a clearing with a trail leading into the woods.

Wendy was the first to speak. "So basically, there are a few points along that trail where it branches off before looping back, so we can choose how long we want to run for."

"R- run?" Dipper had almost no experience with physical activity, and the thought of going for a run with someone like Wendy was intimidating. He was fairly confident that, even at twelve, the redhead still had a lot of speed and endurance. After all, she had done well in numerous lumberjack competitions.

"Yeah! Don't worry about it man, we'll start off nice and easy. I was thinking we should go a few miles to warm up, and then maybe a seven or eight mile jog. Does that sound good to you?"

Dipper's felt like throwing up out of sheer nervousness. A few miles as a _warm up_?! Wendy must have seen something in his face, because she immediately corrected herself.

"Hey dude, I was just kidding! I don't think I could do that even when I was fifteen. We'll do some stretches and then do just over a mile, alright? Maybe I can show you some forest stuff along the way."

Dipper flushed. He should've known she was messing with him! She wouldn't have really expected him to do that much! Wendy strolled over near the and began to do some jumping jacks. As she walked, Dipper had an idea. If he had to go on runs, then Wendy would have to do something in return.

After a few seconds Wendy noticed that Dipper wasn't moving, and when she spoke Dipper could hear the worry in her voice. "Hey man, is something wrong?"

Dipper shook his head. "No, I was just thinking. You want a training buddy because you're bored, right?" Wendy nodded. "Well, if you want me to do anything, you have to agree to study for at least an hour a day with me. The brain is like a muscle, and should be built up like one."

Wendy raised an eyebrow and thought for a few seconds. "None of that calculus junk though."

"No calc," Dipper swore, before adding on a "for now." Wendy shrugged and shook his hand. Without further ado, the two started stretching, joking around and laughing the whole time.

…

Simply put, Dipper was tired. He ran from monsters all the time, but at least when he did that he had the advantage of adrenaline in his system. At least they had stopped on occasion so that Wendy could show him edible berries and a few other plants. Dipper leaned back and tried to remember which berries Wendy had shown him. _Let's see... there was the bearberry, the salmonberry, and the... the..._ _golden currant! That's what it was!_

Once they had gotten done with their run, Dipper drove back to the Shack, where he and Wendy had worked on anatomy for a while. Wendy hadn't been too interested at first, but she got really excited when she found out that they could dissect a squirrel to get a more "hands-on experience." She promised to bring one the next day, and Dipper had to keep himself from laughing at how much more she paid attention after that. He made a mental note to find real-world examples wherever he could when they studied together. The time flew, and the hour had passed before either of them realized. Wendy said goodbye, and made her way back to the cabin.

…

Dipper sat upright and checked his watch. Three in the morning. What had woken him up? "Mabel? Is that you?" Dipper whispered. Maybe she had gotten up to use the bathroom or something?

"Dipper? I was just going to ask you that," came the reply, and Dipper's heart sank. It was something else. Couldn't they have a break? It hadn't even been a week since Weirdmageddon! When Mabel spoke again, it sounded as loud as a shout in the silence. "Dipper, I'm gonna turn on the light."

Right as she did, however, a loud crash echoed throughout the Shack. Mabel and Dipper shared a terrified glance. Carefully, after grabbing a few things, the twins made their way downstairs, where they turned on the light and were greeted by the sight of a broken window. As he got closer, Dipper noticed a brick on the floor amid the glass. He reached down to pick it up and noticed that it had a piece of paper tied around it. Untying it, Dipper saw a message had been written with very rough handwriting.

**Pine tree, Shooting Star,**

**Crescent and Hand**

**A danger is coming**

**Against which you cannot stand**

**Nobody can help you,**

**Nobody will see**

**You will pay for your mistakes**

**You cannot flee**

At the bottom of the paper were crude drawings of each of the zodiac symbols. Right as he finished, Stanford and Stanley came down the stairs, wielding a magnet gun and bat respectively. Ford was the first to speak. "Are you two alright? What happened?" Wordlessly, Dipper handed the paper to his great uncle.

After reading it, Ford sighed. "I thought we were done with Bill, but it would appear that we aren't. The fact that someone knows about the signs means that they know about the prophecy."

"What about the 'danger against which we cannot stand?' That doesn't sound good!"

Ford sighed again. "Dipper, I wish I knew. Honestly, I have no idea who this could be, or what power they have. This could just be a scare tactic to mess with us, or whoever sent this could have the ability to bring on another apocalypse. I don't think there's anything we can do right now without more information. I'll look into it. For now, though, be safe. Bring someone with you whenever you go out, and let someone else know where you're going. Be on your guard."

Everyone made their way back to bed, but nobody was able to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Alright, after this, there will probably be one or two more 'setup' chapters, but then we get into the adventures with Wendy, Dipper, Mabel, and Ford! If you guys have any ideas, make sure to let me know! I would love to see what you guys can think of!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry that this chapter took so long! I'm going to try and upload every Saturday from now on, but we'll see if I can stick to that schedule. Also, thanks for 100 hits! Wow! This chapter was a lot of fun to write, and I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Disclaimer: The penguins have infiltrated Alex Hirsch's home. I am awaiting intel from them, so I still don't have the rights to Gravity Falls. Hopefully that changes soon.

"Dude, somebody threw a brick through your window with a message on it at three in the morning? That's kinda messed up."

"I know, right? The weirdest part is that Bill is gone, so these people have literally no reason to care anymore! Unless they want some form of revenge or something…" Dipper trailed off, thinking about what other motivations someone could have. He and Wendy were standing behind the counter at the gift shop while Mabel and Soos were outside performing various repairs on the Shack.

All of a sudden, a loud crash split the air, followed by the terrified screams of the tourists that were visiting the Shack. Mabel burst through the door, yelling "Evil tree! Evil tree!" Glancing at each other, Dipper and Wendy ran outside to find that there was, in fact, an evil tree. Dipper saw a trail of destruction that it had left behind it, leading into the woods. At the moment it was raging around the Shack, causing chaos. It's voice boomed around the clearing. "WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE?! WHERE?!"

Thinking quickly, Dipper decided to see if he could bargain with it before it caused any more damage. It was clear that it was looking for someone, so maybe they could use that to drive it away. "Hey!" he yelled, waving his arms. "Hey evil tree thing! Down here!"

The monster looked down at the source of the noise, and seemed to be surprised when it saw Dipper. "Great, you again? Really?"

Dipper's wariness turned to confusion. "Wait, have we met before? I don't remember you."

The tree thing started to answer, but it stopped as soon as it noticed Wendy standing next to Dipper. "There she is! I was worried for a second that she was somewhere else!"

All of a sudden, the monster bent down on one knee, and a cavity opened in the middle of the chest to reveal… Jeff the gnome. "Seriously?" Dipper asked. He thought Jeff was over stuff like this!

"Hey," Jeff said, turning his attention to Dipper as he made his way down to them. "You stay out of this! I won't have you ruining another chance for me!" Then, turning to Wendy, his voice changed from angry to what he clearly thought was romantic. "As for you, my beautiful lady, I have come with a very special offer. I would like to ask you to be…" Jeff pulled out the same oversized ring that he had offered Mabel, "my queen! I know this is kind of sudden, but think about it! You get to live out the rest of your days with moi," Jeff said, placing a hand on his chest. "And all of the rest of the gang" He gestured to the edge of the forest, where several other gnomes were standing and waving. Dipper swore that he heard a faint "Shmebulock!"

"Wait," Wendy responded, "You're the gnomes that kidnapped Mabel, right?"

Jeff started to look uncomfortable. "Uh… yeah… tha- that was us…"

Wendy started to laugh. "You guys seriously need to get better at wooing over girls. I mean, you kidnap the first one and then get in some giant tree monster thing and assault the workplace of the second one? That's… not great dating technique, dude."

"Besides," Dipper chimed in, "why don't you guys find a queen your own size? Both of the ones you've gone after have been like ten times bigger than you!"

Jeff put away the ring and narrowed his eyes at Dipper. "Every time I find a decent queen, you always stop what could be true love from happening. And ya know what? I'm sick of it!" With that, Jeff ran back up to the center of the monster and began fidgeting with what looked like a set of controls. Dipper looked closer at the "tree" and realized that it was actually a machine! He braced himself, prepared for Jeff to start wreaking havoc again, but the gnome seemed to be having some technical difficulties. He kept hitting buttons and turning knobs, but nothing was happening. "Come on you stupid thing! You were just working fine! Why now?"

Dipper looked up and saw Grunkle Ford sitting on the back of the machine holding a screwdriver and magnet gun. He glanced up at Dipper and gave him a smile and thumbs up. Ford kept prying pieces out while Jeff, completely oblivious, continued to try to start his monster. The gnome, now completely focused on the controls, didn't notice Wendy climbing up to him until it was too late. He looked up in fear as the angry redhead picked him up. "Wait wait wait! Can we talk about this?"

Wendy ignored Jeff and walked to the edge of the forest, where she prepared to punt him. The other gnomes ran away, not willing to risk the wrath of a Corduroy. Before she got the chance to drop-kick Jeff, though, Mabel came sprinting out of the Shack. "Wendy! Wait! Don't do it!"

Wendy turned towards Mabel and looked confused. Jeff took the opportunity to try and save himself. "Mabel! Have you reconsidered? We would still love to have you as queen!"

"Nope!" Mabel said cheerily. "I just want to tell Wendy something!" Mabel, having reached the redhead, leaned in to whisper in her ear. Dipper watched a grin spread across Wendy's face as she nodded. Without saying anything, she handed a belligerent Jeff off to Mabel and took off running. She was back within a minute holding the bane of all gnomes: a leaf blower.

"Oh no no no no no no…" Jeff started to fight to get free, but Mabel kept a firm grip on him. He was still screaming as they launched him into the trees.

The trio then turned to see a crowd of the tourists that had been touring the Mystery Shack staring at them, dumbstruck. One of them began to clap, and soon all of them were giving a round of applause. Stan, seeing an opportunity, stepped in front of the crowd. "That, ladies and gentlemen, was our newest attraction! The, uh, the tree-monster-machine that was actually a gnome looking for love! Showings are 20 bucks each! If you want to remember this great beast, stop by the gift shop!" The tourists all excitedly made their way into the Mystery Shack, handing "Mr. Mystery" twenty dollars as they walked past him.

Stan strolled over to the kids with a huge grin on his face. "Look at this! You kids are genius!" He held up all of the bills that he had been handed, and Dipper could see that it was a pretty good amount of money. Stan grabbed three twenties from the stack and handed one to each of the teens. "Here you kiddos go. Take the day off. Go to the arcade or somethin'. As for me, I have some yokels to scam out of their hard-earned cash!" He rubbed his hands together, adjusted his fez, and strolled off towards the gift shop, counting the stack of cash as he went.

Mabel high fived Wendy and took off towards the golf cart. Dipper started to go after her, but decided to go talk to Grunkle Ford first. Wendy followed him. He found his Great Uncle poking around in the back of the tree machine. "Dipper! Wendy!" Ford seemed excited to see them. "Take a look at this!This is incredible! I think this can be our first impromptu lesson!" The two teens climbed up one of the legs and looked into the hole that Ford had opened. There were lots of complex gears and mechanisms, but what really drew Dipper's attention was the alien adhesive that was used in several places. It was clear that whoever had applied the purple goo had great skill.

"Woah," Wendy said beside him. "How did the gnomes make something like this? They don't seem too smart."

Ford nodded. "That's just what I was thinking. The way I see it, there are two possibilities. One, they found this abandoned out in the forest. Unlikely, considering the pristine condition of all of the pieces inside. The other possibility, one I find far more concerning, is that somebody provided them with this machine. That one, unfortunately, is far more likely. This adhesive," Ford gestured to the glowing purple glue for Wendy "is hard to come by and even harder to use correctly. It's also odd that this machine just happened to be operable by a creature the size of that gnome. All in all, something definitely seems suspicious."

Dipper and Wendy glanced at each other. Somebody made a machine for the gnomes? Why? If they could make something like this, why not use it themselves? The machine provided more questions than answers. "Anyways," Ford concluded. "I'm going to bring some of this stuff to the lab and analyze it. You kids have fun!" As Wendy and Dipper made their way over to the golf cart, both of their minds were racing.

…

"Haha! Another race won! Take that, Dip-Dop!"

"Mabel, I just won. You're bottom screen."

"...oh."

The twins had just finished a match of "Driving In Circles," a game that their dad had reminisced about often. From the way he described it, it had sounded like a driving game filled with excitement and suspense. In actuality, it was a game where, as the name suggests, you drive around in circles. Still, Mabel and Dipper managed to find ways of making it interesting, including swapping controllers, random challenges, and, best of all, seeing how many glitches they could get to happen.

Mabel, Dipper, and Wendy were in town at the Gravity Falls Arcade, each one stretching their twenty dollars as far as it could go. At the moment, Wendy was playing a fighting game, and she was doing insanely well.

"Perfect round!" The announcer's deep voice boomed as the redhead demolished another opponent. Dipper made his way behind her and was quite impressed. It was clear that Wendy had put some time into this machine over the years.

Once Wendy was done completely destroying the AI, all three of them made their way over to the counter to get some pizza. When they sat down with their slices all three teens immediately began to pick on the pizza.

"Hey Mabel," Dipper cracked, "Need some more cardboard for your crafts?"

Mabel was next. "Nah, I like my materials to have at least a slight ability to hold their shape."

"No no no, both of you are way off! This isn't cardboard, it's the newest kind of hair gel! I mean, just think about how nice and shiny your hair will be after putting some of this grease in it!" The teens burst out in laughter. Simply put, they were happy.

…

"Woah, Dipper, what was that?" Wendy pointed to a spot in the woods. She and Dipper were just wrapping up their run.

The teen turned to look at where his friend was pointing, but he didn't see anything. Wendy took the opportunity to slip away and scamper up a tree. When Dipper turned back around, she was gone. He frowned and started to look around for her. Wendy had to keep herself from laughing. He looked so worried! "Wendy? Wendy, are you okay?"

"Survival rule number one: always remember to check above you!" Wendy yelled, jumping down from the tree and landing right behind Dipper.

"GYAAAA! Wendy, don't do that! It wasn't funny!"

Wendy was in tears. Scaring him would never get old! "Dude, it totally was! Besides, I was teaching you survival rules! Now you'll know to look above you!"

Dipper scowled. "Yeah, I guess you're right. That still wasn't funny!"

"You don't know what you're talking about! It totally wa-" Wendy cut short as she noticed something. "Dipper? Look over there."

"No way! You literally just pulled this trick on me! There's no way you're going to get me twice!" He stared resolutely at her, but something in her eyes must have given away the fact that she wasn't messing with him. He finally turned around and saw what she was pointing at. A figure in a silver cloak was making his way through the woods. The person's face was obscured, but it was clear from their height and stature that it was a man. He appeared to be holding some sort of book. The man glanced up from the ground, saw Wendy and Dipper watching him, and took off.

"Hey! Wait!" Dipper cried out, starting to run after the man. The man, as was the usual with shifty characters, ignored the calls to stop and kept running. Wendy sighed. Why couldn't anybody just talk out their issues in this town? It would be a bajillion times faster and easier! But no, it was always secrets and sabotage. "Wendy, is there a way to find out where he went? Like footprints or something?" The redhead nodded.

Dipper and Wendy made their way out to where the man had been, but Wendy's confusion only grew. This was where he had been, she was sure of it! And yet there were no footprints, broken sticks, or marks of any kind. What the hell? There was no way for anyone, no matter how experienced, to just disappear without a trace like that!

"Uh, Wendy? Did you find anything?"

Wendy shook her head in frustration. Something just didn't add up! "No, it's like he just teleported away! I don't get it! We saw him running that way," she pointed in the direction that she had seen the man run and started to say her next thought, but Dipper interrupted her before she got the chance.

"Uh, he ran that way." Dipper pointed in the complete opposite direction.

"No he didn't! I saw it clearly! He ran off that way, towards the old mines!"

Dipper shook his head vehemently. "Wendy, I swear to you I'm telling the truth. He looked up, saw us, and took off this way."

Wendy's eyebrows furrowed as she thought. It was clear that however this guy had escaped, he hadn't just run off. Maybe he had something to do with the weirdos who had thrown a brick through the window of the Mystery Shack? Or maybe he was the guy that had made the suit for the gnomes? Wendy wasn't sure about either possibility, since the man, whoever he was, had seemed terrified when he noticed them, like it was a genuine coincidence that they were in the same place. Still, there was no denying that he had acted suspiciously.

The redhead explained her thoughts to Dipper, who nodded as she spoke. "I was just thinking about that! I think there's definitely a connection, but I have no idea what it could be. We should tell Ford about this."

They had been training for just over an hour already, so both teens decided that they could be done for the day. They kept discussing the mysterious figure as they made their way back to the Shack.

…

Ford was very interested when he heard about the silver-robed man. "You say he looked like he left in two directions, but left no clue as to where he actually went?" The scientist frowned. "I've come across a few creatures capable of something like that, but none of them were humanoid. Dipper, I know that you're already fairly cautious, but please make sure that Mabel also exercises some restraint from now on. The last thing we need is for her to go into the forest chasing after a magical butterfly and wind up kidnapped, or worse."

Dipper nodded. He would have a talk with Mabel later. "Hey Grunkle Ford, Wendy and I were thinking that the cloak guy could be connected to whoever threw that brick through our window, or maybe whoever built the machine for Jeff. What do you think?"

Ford thought for a while before sighing. "Dipper, I honestly don't have any idea right now. I've been trying to find some answers in this tree mechanism all afternoon, but this alien adhesive is a nightmare to get off. It's a shame the jackalopes are so good at avoiding the traps."

Dipper and Wendy shared a confused glance. "Jackalopes?" Dipper asked.

Ford nodded. "Jackalope antlers have a unique compound that is capable of breaking down this adhesive. The only problem is that there's a reason nobody ever catches the critters. They're extremely smart and good at avoiding capture. I've only seen them a few times, and I've only caught one once."

Dipper looked over at Wendy and saw that she was pretty excited. "That sounds like a job for a Corduroy! Dipper, no run tomorrow. We're going jackalope hunting!"

Ford frowned. "Be careful out there. It's possible that the brick and message were just a scare tactic, but we should be on guard anyways. Make sure you two always stay within the sightline of the other."

"Don't worry, Grunkle Ford. We'll be safe. Where is the best place to go after them?"

"They typically live around the cliffs near the UFO. Finding them isn't hard, but catching one is nigh impossible."

"Don't worry, Mr. Pines," Wendy chimed in. "We'll get one! You don't have to worry about that!"

"I hope you can, Ms. Corduroy. I hope you can."

"Hey!" Wendy exclaimed with mock indignance. "I told you to call me Wendy!"

"To be fair, you called me Mr. Pines first," Ford chuckled. Wendy didn't have a comeback for that, so she just laughed.

Dipper realized with a start that as a result of the gnomes and the silver cloak guy, they had never caught a squirrel to dissect. "Hey Grunkle Ford? Do you need any part of the jackalope other than its antlers?"

Stanford shook his head. "Nope! Once the compound comes into contact with the adhesive it takes it right off! Why do you ask?"

"We were going to dissect a squirrel today, but I think it would be way cooler to do a jackalope instead. What do you think, Wendy?"

The redhead looked excited. "Dude, that would be sick! We could find something totally new! Who knows? It could have, like, twenty stomachs or something!"

"Actually," Ford said, "Would you two mind if I joined you? I have legitimately no idea what's in one of those things. The one time I caught one, I didn't get the chance to do anything with it before it ran off! The only reason I got one of its antlers was that it broke off when the thing was running away and hit a post."

"For sure!" Dipper exclaimed before turning to Wendy and giving her his best sinister grin. "But for today, you're stuck doing a trig lesson. There's no escaping the ratios!"

"No!" Wendy took off running. "You'll never make me do math!"

Dipper ran after her. "That's what you think! The angles never end!"

**…**

Ford watched the two teens run off with a smile on his face. He had been overjoyed when Dipper had come to him to accept his offer of apprenticeship, and in the short time he had known the Corduroy girl she had proven herself to be quite resourceful. Plus, the way they worked together and complemented each other's strengths was incredible! If they stuck together, they would be quite the force to be reckoned with. Throw Mabel into the mix, and whoever was threatening them had better watch out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you thought, and if there's anything you would like to see in the story! Also, I have a question for you guys. Would you like me to create an OC to ship with Mabel? He likely wouldn't be a major character in the story, but I wanted to ask you guys. There's nobody in the series that I really see as a good fit for Mabel, and I haven't really done a recurring OC yet, so I think it would work well. What do y'all think?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, immediately after setting up an upload schedule, I am breaking said schedule and uploading this early because I'm going camping for a little while. I figure y'all would rather have this two days early than a day late :). Also, I only got one response in regards to my question about whether or not to make an OC for Mabel, so it's still up in the air. Please review and let me know what you would like to see! Finally, I just want to make an alert that I went back and changed the story so that Dipper and Wendy now run together, rather than weight training. It's a minor thing, but I feel like running fits both of their characters better.
> 
> Disclaimer: Update on the Gravity Falls rights situation. It would appear that the penguins have broken into Alex Hershey's house, not Alex Hirsch's. It's okay, though. While I don't have the rights to Gravity Falls yet, I do have a year's supply of chocolate. And before you ask, no you can't have any!

**Sept. 3, 2012**

"Dude, this isn't working. We've seen like _one_ jackalope, and it ran off the second it heard us!"

Dipper sighed. Wendy was right. He figured that maybe he and the redhead would have a better shot at catching a jackalope than Ford. After all, Wendy _was_ a Corduroy! Unfortunately, even Wendy's fine-tuned forestry skills were no match for the sharp hearing of the jackalopes. The rabbit-deer hybrids bolted at the slightest sound and it was getting increasingly frustrating. Dipper glanced down at his watch and sighed. It was almost five o'clock already!

The two made their way back to the Mystery Cart, disappointed. Maybe they would have better luck tomorrow? As Dipper drove, he tried to think of new ways to try and catch a jackalope. They had tried basically everything, from traps to tracking them to sitting and waiting. No matter what, the jackalopes always seemed to hear them. At least the day hadn't been a total bust. Wendy had brought some twine with her so she could teach Dipper the square knot and the half hitch. He practiced them over and over while waiting, and he had gotten quite good at them.

When they got back to the Mystery Shack, Dipper barely parked the cart before he was hit by a blur of brown hair and green fabric. "Dipper! I was so worried about you guys! You said you were gonna be back by _noon_!"

Dipper instantly felt bad. It was so easy to lose track of time in the forest, and he had no way of letting Mabel know that he would be out for longer than expected. "Sorry, Mabes. Catching jackalopes was a little harder than we expected. A lot, actually. We didn't get any."

Mabel immediately pulled back from her twin. "Wait, a jackalope is like a bunny with antlers, right?" Dipper nodded. "Why didn't you say that that's what you guys were going to do today, broseph? I could have saved you guys _so_ much time! C'mon! I found this while I was looking for more socks to make puppets!"

Mystified, Dipper and Wendy followed Mabel down into the basement of the Shack. The older twin swung open the door of a little-used storage room to reveal…

"Is… is that a jackalope preserved in peanut brittle?" Dipper was shocked. Mabel nodded happily. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

Mabel shrugged. "You never asked."

"She's got you there, man." To Dipper's mild annoyance, Wendy instantly took his sister's side in the not-quite-argument.

Rolling his eyes, Dipper grabbed a hammer that was lying on the ground and shut the door to the storage room. "Alright Wendy, on the count of three I'll hit the peanut brittle. When I do, you need to grab this thing by the antlers before it gets the chance to run. Got it?" The redhead nodded. "Alright. One… two… three!" Dipper swung the hammer down, shattering the candy around the jackalope instantly. Before it got the chance to move, Wendy grabbed the jackalope's antlers. It immediately started to squirm violently. Dipper could see why they were hard to contain!

At that point, Dipper realized that he really hadn't thought this through. He had been planning to just kill the jackalope so that he could dissect it with Wendy and Ford later, but that wasn't really an option with Mabel present. Wendy grew frustrated as Dipper stood motionless. "Do something, man! This thing is _not_ happy!"

Mabel moved towards where Wendy and the jackalope were wrestling. "That's 'cause you're doing it wrong, silly! You can't just pin it down, you gotta show it some love! Here, let me show you, Mabel style!" With that, she bent down and picked up the struggling wild animal.

"Mabel," Dipper said with concern, "that's not going to wo-" He cut off as the jackalope immediately stopped squirming and instead lay in Mabel's arms contentedly as she began to pet it.

"See bro-bro? All it takes is a magic touch!" To everyone's surprise, the sound of purring filled the small room. "Aww, he loves it! I think he needs a name! Hmm… he was in peanut brittle… How about Quentin II?" The jackalope purred louder as if to show his agreement. Unseen by Mabel, Dipper winced. Now dissecting the jackalope was _definitely_ out of the question.

**…**

"Grunkle Stan! We need more corn starch!" Mabel yelled, only receiving a grunt in response. She discovered that Quentin II was an extremely picky eater, but for whatever reason he loved corn starch. Mabel had actually only pulled the canister out of the cupboard to reach the chocolate chips (which she was convinced everything liked) and was surprised to find the jackalope pawing at it. When she opened the lid, he jammed his face in and went to town. Now the jackalope was sitting on its haunches contentedly, looking around for any more food.

Dipper sat off to the side, furiously writing. He didn't have a real notebook yet, so at the moment he just wrote in a cheap spiral bound one that he had gotten from the dollar store. He finished his notes on the jackalope right as Ford made his way into the kitchen. "Corn starch?" The scientist asked. "What for?"

"For Quentin!" Mabel held up the jackalope and smushed her face into it. "Mmm! He smells like peanut!"

Ford's eyes opened wide. "A live jackalope! Incredible! But I thought Dipper and Wendy weren't able to catch one?"

"We weren't," Dipper answered. "Mabel found that in the basement. It was preserved in peanut brittle, just like Quentin Trembley."

"And you say it likes corn starch?" Ford asked, to which Mabel nodded. "Interesting. I wonder what they eat in the wild?"

"You talkin' about teenagers?" Stan said as he strolled into the kitchen and started looking around for dinner. "'Cause they'll eat anything. I think I saw one of those Corduroy boys take a can from the goat one time."

Mabel corrected him by holding up the jackalope again. "No, silly! Quentin Trembley the second!"

"Quenta-whosie-whatsit? Oh, that thing. Huh. No idea it was alive! I had it on display for a while, but I had to take it off 'cause idiot tourists kept trying to eat the peanut brittle. Like I was saying, teenagers'll eat whatever they can find!"

"Except Stancakes." Dipper deadpanned.

"Hey!"

When Stan didn't find anything for dinner, they all agreed to just go to Greasy's. Stan ordered his usual "Heart Attack Hot Dog," (Eh, somethin' around here'll kill me before heart problems ever do) Mabel ordered pancakes despite it being 7:30 at night, and Dipper and Ford both just ordered Western Burgers. Lazy Susan also brought them all chocolate milkshakes, on the house (A special treat for the town heroes!)

As they ate, Mabel asked, "So, brotato tot, why did you guys need a jackalope?"

Dipper looked around to make sure nobody was listening before he answered. "You know that tree machine that Jeff was driving? It's held together by a really strong adhesive that can only be unstuck by a special protein in jackalope antlers. We think it could have answers about the guy that threw a brick through our window. "

"So Quentin needs to lose his antlers? But then he won't be a jackalope anymore! He'll be, like, a jack-a-nope, or something!"

"Mabel, he'll regrow them soon, probably in the spring. He'd probably shed them in a few months anyways."

"Okay, but we have to make it up to him! I vote we take Quentin to the waterpark! Jackalope slide!" Mabel forgot all about Quentin's antlers and began to plan a day out with the jackalope. She was still coming up with ideas when they arrived back at the Shack. "And then we have a picnic in the lazy river…" she trailed off, lost in thought.

**…**

"Waddles, this is Quentin Trembley II, your new roommate!" Mabel plopped the jackalope down right next to the pig and stared at them with anticipation. When both animals remained motionless, staring at each other, she frowned. "Maybe if they got some quality roommate bonding time? Ooh! They could do an animal escape room!"

"Mabel," Dipper looked up from the book he was reading and down at the two animals on the attic floor. "They're a pig and a jackalope. I don't think they're going to ge-" He cut off as Waddles trotted over to his bed, Quentin right behind him. They curled up next to each other and promptly fell asleep. "Huh. Wouldja look at that. I stand corrected."

Mabel was too busy gushing over the two animals to listen to anything Dipper was saying. "Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh! Look at them! Eeeee!" Mabel slapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from making any more noise that could wake Quentin or Waddles up. She was sensing a scrapbookortunity!

Once she had taken the picture, Mabel put away her camera and continued to watch the sleeping animals. "They just look so cute curled up together! Almost as cute as you and Wendy would look now that there's no age difference, eh bro-bro?"

Dipper's face immediately turned bright red. "Mabel! We already agreed to just be friends! Besides, mentally she's still fifteen, so there's only not a _physical_ age gap."

"Say what you want, dippendots! But this seems like fate wanted you two to end up together! And there's no denying the forces of love!"

"I'm going to bed, Mabel. Good night." Dipper reached over and turned off the light, but Mabel kept grinning in the darkness. _Oh yeah, he still has a crush on her._

**…**

Late that night, despite what he had said to Mabel, Dipper lay awake thinking about Wendy. They _had_ agreed to just be friends, but that was before Weirdmageddon. Before Wendy had her age reversed. There was also the issue of different mental ages. Like Dipper had said, Wendy was still a fifteen year old mentally, while Dipper was barely a thirteen year old. But hadn't Wendy told him that he was mature for his age?

Dipper just didn't know what to do! On the one hand, Wendy might be more open to dating him now that they were the same age. On the other, what if she still saw him as a little kid who was just a friend and nothing more? Things would get awkward, especially if they would be working together under Ford every day.

Dipper sighed. He got the feeling that he wouldn't be falling asleep anytime soon.

**…**

**Sept. 4, 2012**

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead! We're doing a morning run!"

Dipper sat up and blearily looked around. "Wendy? Wha?"

"Shh, you'll wake your sister up! Now come on man! I'll be downstairs! You have five minutes to get ready and get down there."

Dipper glanced at his watch. Six o'clock? Great. That meant that he only got like four hours of sleep last night. He groaned as he sat up and looked over at his still-sleeping sister with envy. She'd probably get another two hours of sleep while he had to go out on a run. Moving quickly and quietly, Dipper got dressed and brushed his teeth. He left a note for Mabel explaining where he was going before making his way downstairs to find Wendy seated at the kitchen table.

"Alright man, you good to go? Time's a-wastin'!" Dipper nodded and followed Wendy out to the Mystery Cart. As they rode over to the Corduroy cabin, Dipper was lost in thought and didn't notice Wendy look over at him with concern. "Hey dude, you alright?"

Dipper jumped. "Uh, yeah, uh, I was just thinking."

"'Bout what? You can tell me, whatever it is."

Dipper knew that would be true most of the time, but he couldn't tell her about wanting to go out with her! Not yet! He struggled to come up with something on the fly. "Uh, I, uh, was just, um, thinking about, uh, what we would find in the machine today!" He winced as he talked a little too quickly, but Wendy didn't seem to notice.

"Oh yeah, I was thinkin' about that too! Whaddya think we'll find?"

"Honestly, um, I have no idea if we'll find anything. It's possible that the guy was really good at hiding his tracks or something."

"Huh, I didn't even think of that! Anyways, we're here! Last one to the trail has to ask Poolcheck for their job back!" Dipper shuddered before taking off.

Once Dipper and Wendy finished stretching, they began to run. Once they got about halfway, Wendy stopped Dipper to show him some more edible berries. The run was fairly uneventful, but Dipper was intrigued when at the end of the run he felt _more_ energetic than when they began. He told Wendy so, and she responded.

"Yeah man, morning runs'll do that to ya. Plus, we still have plenty of time before work starts! Do you wanna go get breakfast?"

"Yes!" Dipper responded, and mentally kicked himself. Once again, he felt like he had answered a little too fast and a little too forcefully.

"Greasy's sound good to you? Their pancakes are the size of your face!"

Dipper carefully made sure to answer in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner. "Sure, Greasy's sounds fine." They drove over to the diner and ordered their food. Sure enough, as Wendy had promised, Dipper's pancake was the size of his head.. "Man, I thought you were kidding!"

"Toldja dude! One time, we dared Thompson to ask Susan to make him the biggest pancake she could, and then we made him eat it. It was hilarious! He couldn't eat anything for like a week afterwards!" Dipper laughed at the thought.

As they ate, Wendy quizzed Dipper on survival skills while he created math problems for her to work on. Before Dipper knew it, it was 8:00. He brought Wendy to her house, waited while she showered and changed, and then drove to the Shack. Wendy took her usual post at the cash register while Dipper headed upstairs so that he could get out of his sweaty running clothes. As he opened the door, Mabel looked up from Waddles and Quentin, grinning. "So, broseph, how was your date? Didja smooch her?"

"No, Mabel!" Dipper's face flushed. "We went for a run, got breakfast, and that's _it._ It wasn't a date!"

The older twin waggled her eyebrows."You two ate a meal with each other? Sounds like a date to me!"

Dipper got a disgusted look on his face. "Ew, Mabel, that's not how that works at all! If it was, then that would mean that you and I go out on a date every time we go to Greasy's!"

"Ewwwww!" Mabel blew a raspberry at Dipper before running downstairs. Dipper showered, changed, and strolled downstairs. Once the Shack closed at five, they would be able to disassemble the gnome machine. Dipper just hoped they would get some answers.

**…**

"Alright. Before we begin, I have something for each of you kids," Ford said. He, Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, and Stan were gathered around the massive tree machine in the yard of the Shack, where Stanford had the powdered antler ready to go. The scientist strolled over to a box lying nearby and opened it. Dipper's eyes opened wide as his great uncle pulled out three wrapped books. Ford handed one to each of the teens, who took the packages eagerly.

Mabel took her time taking off the wrapping paper (I can use it for crafts later!) and Wendy pulled out a pocket knife to cut hers, but Dipper tore his paper right off. If this was what he thought it was… YES! A journal, made with nice thick pages and expertly bound! The journal's cover was red to match Ford's, but Dipper's had a blue pine tree in the middle, with a simply painted "1" in the center of that. He glanced over and saw that Wendy's was similar, except hers had an ice ba. Mabel's, of course, had the shooting star symbol in the middle. Dipper was ecstatic! He didn't have to use his one dollar spiral bound notebook anymore! "Thanks Grunkle Ford!"

"You're quite welcome, Dipper. When that fills up, just let me know and I can make you another one. They aren't too difficult to do."

"Hey thanks, Mr. Pines! This is sweet!"

Ford adopted a mock-stern look on his face. "Young lady, I told you to call me Ford!" Then, turning to Mabel, he said, "I know you probably aren't as interested in keeping a scientific journal as Dipper or I are, but I do think that that would make a great scrapbook."

Mabel's eyes lit up. "Yeah! I'm running out of room in the one I have! I know _just_ the picture to go in first! Thanks!" Mabel ran over to hug her great uncle.

"Yeesh Poindexter, we gonna stand around all day and get excited about empty books? I'm not gettin' any younger, ya know!"

Ford sighed. "Yes, Stanley, I suppose you're right. Dipper, you have the fingerprinting kit ready? Wendy, you have my radiation scanner?" Both teens nodded.

"I've got the camera!" Mabel chimed in.

"Alright, applying the powder to the first piece in three… two… one…" Everyone waited with bated breath, but they let it out when the alien adhesive just quietly dissolved.

"Well that was… anticlimactic." Stan grumbled. "I was hopin' for an explosion or somethin'! If that's all that this is gonna be, then I'll be inside. I have to catch up on some 'Duchess Approves.'" Everyone turned and stared at Stan. "Uh, I mean, uh, Dutch Ice and Roofs! It's a show where they eat ice in the Netherlands! On roofs! I'm uh, I'm just gonna go now." Dipper and Mabel shared a glance and had to keep themselves from laughing.

Ford and the teens worked hard and, after about an hour of sprinkling powder and separating pieces, had fully disassembled the machine except for its shell, which Stan requested they leave intact. According to him, "The yokels love that thing! You wouldn't believe how much money I can make with this sucker!" Once they had all of the inner pieces moved down to Ford's lab, Dipper and Wendy checked each individual piece for fingerprints and weirdness radiation, respectively. Mabel left to check on Waddles and Quentin after making Dipper promise to come get her if they found anything exciting or sparkly.

The big break came when Dipper was checking the underside of the engine for fingerprints. He accidentally brushed a small lever, causing a small hatch to open and a little rolled up paper to fall out. "Hey guys, I found something! Go get Mabel and Stan!" Once everyone was present, Dipper unrolled the paper and began to read.

**Congratulations, you've found the first piece of my puzzle!**

**Now, the only question is whether you'll survive to find the rest.**

**Keep a lookout for more clues. They will come.**

Drawn on the bottom of the paper was what looked like a piece of a topographical map with "A4" written next to it. Dipper whipped out his journal and quickly sketched a copy of the square. "Grunkle Stan," he asked, "does that look like anywhere you know?"

Stan shook his head. "Kid, I've been to a lot of places, but that doesn't look like anything I've ever seen."

"A puzzle? Hmm. Without more to go on, I don't think we can do anything," Ford said. "For now all we can do is what whoever wrote that told us to. Wait, and keep a lookout for more clues."

**…**

**Sept. 5, 2012**

"C'mon man, let's go run. Be downstairs in five."

Dipper sat up and nodded. He had been anticipating another morning run, so he slept in his athletic shorts and a t-shirt. He quietly crept down the stairs, wincing at every creak. How did Wendy move so quietly?

Their run went by pretty quickly, but neither felt like getting Greasy's again. Instead, Wendy decided to just eat something back at the Shack. Dipper drove them back.

As Dipper pulled into the Mystery Shack, he got a sinking feeling as he saw his dad's pickup truck parked there. _Dad's here? This early?_

Wendy trailed behind Dipper as he walked inside to find his father talking to Grunkle Stan.

"Dad?" Dipper asked. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"

Dipper's dad gave him a sad smile. "You could say that. Your mom wants you to come home."

Dipper felt like someone had punched him. He… he had to go back to Piedmont? But what about his apprenticeship? What about the mystery with the map? Dipper gulped. _What about Wendy?_

Beside him, Mabel began to tear up. "Dad, why? I have so many friends in Gravity Falls, I can't just leave them behind! You said we could stay!"

Dipper's dad looked sad as he spoke. "Look kids, I was all for you guys staying here, but your mom was insistent that I bring you guys home. C'mon, let's go. We should get an early start. It's quite a drive to Piedmont!"

"But… but what about saying goodbyes? There are so many people that we need to say goodbye to!" Mabel was getting extremely close to tears.

"Mabel, I've found that it's best to do goodbyes after you've already gone. That way you can send one letter to someone and be done with it, rather than dragging it out and making it painful. It's like tearing off a band-aid."

Desperate to spend at least a little time in Gravity Falls, Dipper said, "What about our stuff? We still need to pack!"

Again, his dad had an answer ready. "We'll just ship it. We really should get going. If we don't get home before too long, your mom'll freak out."

"Wait! At least let me say goodbye to Grunkle Stan!" Mabel ran over and hugged her great uncle.

Stan, in a rare moment of tenderness, bent down and hugged his niece back. "Hey pumpkin, it'll be alright. See ya soon, okay? It'll be like ya never even left." He stood, walked over to Dipper and shook his hand. "Bye kid. Take good care of your sister for me, will ya?" Dipper, on the verge of tears himself, nodded.

Wendy, who had kept silent until now, walked over and hugged Dipper. "Hey man, we're gonna miss you guys. It won't be the same around here. You'd better send letters like every day! I'll tell everyone you said goodbye. This sucks, but at least you can come back next summer, right?" Dipper nodded sadly. "Here, somethin' to remember Gravity Falls by." Wendy took off her trapper cap and planted it on Dipper's head. In return, she took his pine tree cap and put it on her own head. "It'll be alright, man. Trust me. Make sure to keep running, 'k?" Then, turning to Mabel, she addressed the older twin. "See you next summer, Mabes. Like I told Dipper, you guys better write to me, like, all the time!" The two hugged before Dipper and Mabel had to leave.

Fred was already in the truck when his two kids made their way outside. As both twins climbed into the back seat, he said with surprise in his voice, "No fighting over who gets shotgun?"

Dipper and Mabel both shook their heads. Dipper was in too much shock to care about which seat he was in, and he got the feeling that Mabel was the same way. How could his parents do something like this? Tell him that he could stay, and then a few days later make him leave?! It was worse than if they had just said no and taken them home originally!

As he started the car, Dipper's dad tried to make conversation with his kids. "So, Dipper, Uncle Stanley told me you've been going on runs?" Wordlessly, Dipper nodded. "Maybe you could try out for the track team in the spring!" Another mechanical nod. Fred Pines shrugged and pulled out of the Mystery Shack parking lot.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I wasn't planning to update so soon, but I got this written and I decided that I didn't want to leave everyone (myself included) hanging after that last chapter. This one is short, but I feel like it works best as a little fun standalone.
> 
> Disclaimer: So it turns out that my penguins were a bunch of traitors! While I was out camping, they broke into my chocolate vault and took all of the chocolate I got from Alex Hershey! Can you believe it? Anyways, my quest to obtain the rights to Gravity Falls is momentarily suspended. I have some chocolate to take back. *loads tranquilizer gun and then proceeds to shoot self in foot* Ya know what? On second thought, maybe I'll just take a little na- *falls to ground, unconscious and begins snoring*

Dipper stared out the window as his dad drove. He just felt numb. Why? Just… why? He should’ve known that the chance to stay in Gravity Falls was too good to be true, but he had still let himself believe that he would actually be able to. As Dipper watched the trees flash by, he realized that his dad was going in the wrong direction. “Uh, Dad?” He said tentatively. “This isn’t the way to US-101. I think you turned the wrong way at the Shack.”

“Oh, I guess you’re right. Huh. I’ll look for a place to turn around.” 

Silence enveloped the truck once more. Dipper tried to cheer himself up at least a little bit. At least he’d get to come back next summer, right? Still, it wouldn’t be the same. He would have to go back to middle school in Piedmont. His school wasn't that bad, but it felt like being sent to jail compared to the prospect of being apprenticed to Grunkle Ford. 

Neither of the twins, lost in thought, noticed as their dad pulled to a stop in the large circular driveway of the McGucket mansion, formerly the Northwest mansion. "Alright you two, we're home! Now I don't want to hear you two complain about having to come here to your mother. She only wants what's best for you."

Dipper glanced up sharply. "What? Dad, you said we were going back to Piedmont!"

Fred Pines shook his head, grinning. "All I said was that it was quite a drive to Piedmont, and that we were going home. I never said that those two were in the same place."

Dipper felt his heart beating faster. He didn’t dare to hope. If his dad was messing with them, Dipper wasn’t sure he could take it.

“C’mon you two, I hope you aren’t planning on sitting around all day! I don’t want to do all that unpacking by myself!” Dipper glanced over and saw that Mabel looked as excited as he felt. 

“Wait, Dad, are you being serious?”

“Yep! Your mom was really upset about not being around for you guys, so I suggested we just move up here. I told uncle Stan about it, and he told us that a man named Fiddleford McGucket had just bought this place and would probably let us rent part of it. Sure enough, when we called him and told him that we were your parents, he offered us the whole right wing! He actually tried to get us to take it for free, but your mom and I insist on paying him. It’s only right. I can program from home, so my job wasn’t a problem for me, and the move actually helped your mom. You know how she’s been looking around for a teaching job?” Both twins nodded. “Well, she found out that the art teaching position here recently opened up. She applied, and she got the job!”

Mabel looked ecstatic. “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Dipper and his dad covered their ears, wincing at the loud noise. Mabel took off towards the house to find her mom, and Dipper’s dad turned to the younger twin with an amused expression on his face. 

“Sorry about making you guys think you were leaving. I feel a little bad, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. Plus, I never told a lie, so I never technically  _ made  _ you believe you were leaving. You did that yourself.”

“But you said that we would have our stuff shipped. Was that a lie?”

“Nope! There was too much in Piedmont to get in one trip in the pickup, and it was actually more cost and time efficient to have the rest of our things shipped up here.”

Dipper wasn’t sure how to feel. On the one hand, he was kind of upset with his father for tricking them into thinking that they were going home. On the other, his dad was willing to leave his whole life behind just for his kids. Plus, he got to live in the Northwest mansion! Howcool was that? In the end, Dipper got out of the truck, walked around to the driver’s side, and hugged his dad. “Thank you,” he whispered quietly.

“Hey,” Dipper’s dad said softly. “We’d do anything for you kids. You know that, right? You two mean the world to us.” Fred reached down to ruffle Dipper’s hair, but was prevented by Wendy’s trapper cap. “Huh. Looks like me tricking you two wasn’t all bad. I mean, you managed to get that girl’s hat! That’s the first step towards dating, you know!” 

“Daaaaaadddddd!” Dipper groaned. “You’re as bad as Mabel!”

“Speaking of Mabel, I have another surprise for you two, but you only get it once we’re all unpacked. If we work quickly, we should be done in time for lunch.”

The two started to stroll inside, but Dipper stopped as he had another thought. “Hey dad?” He asked. Fred turned around to face his son. “Is it alright if we still stay at the Mystery Shack on weekends?” 

“You’ll have to check with your mom to make sure, but I don’t see why not. Now c’mon! I know you’ve been running, but we need to go do some boxing!” Dipper rolled his eyes good naturedly before following his dad inside. 

**…**

“Alright, that should do it! We have a few more things coming tomorrow, but those won’t take long. For right now, though, I believe I promised you and Mabel a surprise?” Dipper nodded energetically. “Alright, I think your sister is with your mom in the kitchen, wherever that is. I still can’t get over how much space that man gave us! And for so cheap!”

“Yeah, McGucket? He’s a good man. Much better than the people who used to live here.” Dipper shuddered as he thought about Preston Northwest ringing the bell at his daughter. Maybe what happened to them was for the best.

**…**

As Fred Pines followed his son through the mansion, he thought back to his early college days, when he was dating Amy. They had come up to Gravity Falls Amy’s freshman summer, his sophomore one, to stay with her aunt Wanda. While they were up here, Fred and Amy had found all kinds of weird things that Fred wouldn’t have believed if he hadn’t seen them with his own two eyes. The gnomes, the carnivorous squirrels, and so much more. Fred smiled as he recalled the secret society that had tried to kidnap him. At the time it had been terrifying, but now he fondly remembered punching several cloaked people and making a daring escape. They left him and Amy alone after that.

Knowing Dipper and his interest in the supernatural, Fred figured his son probably found many, many town secrets. He would have to ask him about them later.

**…**

“Alright you two, sorry this is a little late, but we want to have our own little birthday celebration, just as a family.” Dipper’s dad said as they waited for Amy to bring out the ice cream. She was currently searching for it in the massive industrial walk-in freezer that the Northwests had installed. Finally, after several minutes of searching, she came out with two cartons. 

"Fred, I swear, I have no idea why we had to move into a mansion. For crying out loud, the freezer is an entire suite!" Despite her words, Amy Pines had a smile on her face. One carton was Superman, for Mabel, and the other was butter pecan, for Dipper. For as long as the twins could remember, their parents had gotten one carton of ice cream per twin for their birthdays. 

Once they had some cake and ice cream, Dipper’s dad pulled out two small wrapped boxes. “If we’re going to be living out here, your mom and I figured that you two had better have these.”

Dipper unwrapped his package at the same time as Mabel, and both twins were excited to find a fairly nice smartphone inside. "Woah, a phone! Thanks Dad!"

"And mom." Dipper's dad jokingly berated him.

"And mom."

"I would say you’re welcome, but we both know that I had nothing to do with this." Dipper's mom replied, to everyone’s amusement.

"Now," said Fred. "These aren't top of the line, but your mom and I thought that they would make good starter phones. If you two can prove that you can be responsible with those, then we can talk about upgrading. I also got some lifeproof cases, so you guys don't have to worry about dropping them." 

After a few more hugs were exchanged, both twins ran through the spacious halls up to their rooms. Even though there were dozens in the wing to choose from, they chose adjacent rooms, much to the bewilderment of their parents. As he entered his room, Dipper looked around and smiled. He guessed that his room had been one of the many, many guest rooms. There were still a few traces of the Northwests around, but Dipper would make sure to take care of those soon. Right now, though, he wanted to get his phone set up. 

As Dipper was in the process of adjusting his settings, Mabel burst through the door connecting their rooms. “Hey bro-bro! Check it out! I bedazzled my phone case! Now it’s a combination phone protector, disco ball,  _ and  _ portrait of Soos!”

Upon hearing the last function, Dipper looked closer at Mabel’s painfully shiny phone case and saw that the fake gems, glitter, and other various craft items that had been hot glued to it somehow really did bear a frighteningly close resemblance to the handyman. “How did you do that in ten minutes? As a matter of fact, how did you do that at all?”

Mabel shrugged. “It’s just natural talent, Dippendots! I get it from mom! You, on the other hand, just got some nerdiness from dad.” She stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry right at her brother.

“Ew, Mabel, gross!” Dipper complained, wiping spittle off his cheek. “Have you even set up a password yet?”

“Nope! I’m not paranoid like you, bro-bro!”

Dipper rolled his eyes. “Mabel, this is Gravity Falls. If you don’t make a password, some weird cult is probably gonna take it and look through it or something.”

“Meh,” Mabel shrugged. “It’s not like I’m gonna have anything bad on there!”

“Or Gideon might take it and look through your selfies.” 

  
The change in Mabel was frightening. Slightly scared, Dipper watched an intense light come into his sister’s eyes. “Dipper, show me how to put a password on this phone right now.” The lack of a nickname spoke to just how serious she was.

Once Dipper finished his sister set up a password (they laughed when they found out that they had both set theirs to mysterytwins,) Mabel decided to return the favor by “bedazzling” her brother’s phone. “Mabel, it’s fine the way it is! Really, I don’t need anything shiny or-” Dipper glanced once more at his sister’s phone. “Or eye-burningly sparkly.”

In response, Mabel simply stuck her tongue out at her brother, swiped his case, and ran into her room before he got the chance to react. “Mab- hey!” She slammed the door in his face and locked it.

“I’ll be done in fifteen minutes or your money back! That’s the Mabel guarantee!” After several futile attempts to get into Mabel’s room, Dipper gave up and sat down on his bed. He downloaded a few games onto his phone and played them while he waited for Mabel.  _ What is she going to do? Probably a macaroni rendition of Grunkle Stan or something.  _

To Dipper’s mild surprise, Mabel didn’t go overboard. Quite the opposite, in fact. She had painted the entire case dark blue with a quick-drying paint before applying a white sticker in the shape of a pine tree in the middle. And on the bottom… “Mabel! Why did you put an ice bag on here?”

The older twin grinned smugly. “The forces of love work in mysterious ways, oh brother of mine! Actually,” she said, frowning as she recalled the Woodstick festival, “Maybe they aren’t that mysterious. Anyways, good luck getting that off! Those stickers are permanent, baby! Matchmaker Mabel one, Grumpy, Love-blind Dipper zero! Boo-yah!” Still smiling, Mabel moonwalked back into her room humming something that sounded suspiciously like “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is the longest chapter yet, just over 5500 words! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed! It always makes my day!
> 
> Disclaimer: *snoring continues*

**Sept. 6, 2012**

Dipper woke to the sound of Disco Girl blaring from his new phone and checked the time. _Five o'clock. Perfect._ He got out of bed, got dressed, put on his trapper hat, brushed his teeth, left a note for Mabel and his parents, and made his way outside. The whole time he made sure to be as quiet as he possibly could. Once outside, Dipper strolled over to what used to be the Northwest's garage, hoping his guess was correct. Once he opened the door, Dipper was happy to find that all of the Northwest's cars were still in the garage. He passed Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and, of course, several Rolls Royces.

At the very end of the garage, under a sheet, was exactly what Dipper had come for. The Northwest golf cart. It was in considerably better shape than the Mystery Cart, but Dipper could fix that fairly quickly. He climbed into the driver's seat after opening the garage door and was pleased to find that the keys were already in the ignition. Dipper winced at the loud noise when the engine roared as he started it, but nobody in the house seemed to have heard it. _Who needs that much power in a golf cart?_

Drove motored down the long drive leading up to the mansion before pulling out onto the road. After checking to make sure that the cops weren't watching, (who was he kidding? The only thing the Gravity Falls cops watched were soap operas) he decided to see how fast the golf cart could go. He floored the pedal and felt a huge burst of speed. Dipper watched the speedometer incredulously. _45… 50… 55… 60!_ Dipper thought again of his earlier question. The teen slowed down considerably. He didn't want to get in a high-speed collision as soon as his parents decided to move here!

After a few minutes, Dipper pulled into his destination: the Corduroy cabin. He climbed a tree and onto the roof, where he crept as stealthily as he could. If Manly Dan woke up and found Dipper on his roof… suffice it to say that it wouldn't end well. Once he got to the section of the roof that was right over Wendy's window, Dipper lay down and reached with his arm to open it. He was mildly surprised to find that she had left it unlocked. Dipper would've expected a survivalist like Wendy to keep it locked. Shrugging, Dipper slowly, oh so slowly, swung his legs down and onto the windowsill. Still as quietly as he could, the teen slowly lowered himself into Wendy's room, where he could see her sleeping form turned away from him, underneath some blankets.

He crept over to her and started to shake her gently to wake her up, but he was surprised to find that they were really just a couple of pillows. "What the-" He cut off quickly as he was tackled to the ground and quickly pinned down.

"Who are you and what do you want with- Dipper? You didn't have to leave?" The angry light in Wendy's eyes died as she realized who she had pinned down.

Dipper needed a moment to recover before he could talk. "Yeah," he said after a moment. "Apparently my parents wanted to move up here and McGucket is renting part of the Northwest Mansion to them. I was trying to surprise you."

Wendy snorted. "Dude, next time you want to surprise someone, try _not_ using a golf cart that you could hear all the way from Florida. Anyways, that's great! So you and Mabel live in a mansion and junk now?"

"Pretty much, although we're still probably going to be staying at the Shack on weekends."

"That's sweet, man! Now I don't want you to get all "rich kid" on me. I swear, if I hear you go up on a stage and talk about how "everyone knows you and loves you because you live in a mansion," I will officially be the first to curb-stomp you."

Dipper grinned and did his best impression of a snooty voice. "I, Dipper Richard Bethylfillorson the third, shall make no such promise to a _commoner_." Both teens burst out in laughter.

"So your parents really moved up here that quickly? Did they quit their jobs or something?"

Dipper shook his head. "My dad does a lot with computers, so he can work from home, and my mom was looking for an art teaching job and found one at the high school here."

"Good for her! So wait, does this mean that you're still gonna be Ford's apprentice with me?" Dipper nodded. "Cool! Speaking of that, when do we start? When school starts next week, right?"

"I would assume so, but with Grunkle Ford you never know. Hey Wendy?"

"Yeah?"

"If I'm not leaving Gravity Falls, does that mean that we need to switch our hats back?"

Wendy thought for a moment before answering. "I mean, we can if you want to, but I would rather _not_ lose my new hat that I just got!"

"Sounds good to me," Dipper said with relief. It would've saddened him to lose something from Wendy. "Hey, I just realized the best part about not going to normal school!"

"What is it? No more annoying teachers?" Dipper shook his head. "No more jerk kids?" Another shake. "Man, I don't know. You got me. What is it?"

"No more cafeteria food!"

Wendy smacked herself on the forehead. "Dude, you're totally right! Why didn't I think of that? I swear I've seen a few gnomes in the food here. I know for sure that their beard hair shows up occasionally." Wendy shuddered.

"Well, did you check to see if your lunch lady was a bunch of gnomes in disguise?"

"Never got the chance. I think there were a few with facial hair, though, so it's a possibility." The two started laughing again, but they made sure to keep it down so that Manly Dan wouldn't wake up. Sobering quickly, Wendy said "Seriously, dude, it's good that you're stayin'. I have no idea what I woulda done with myself if you'd left!"

"Yeah," Dipper agreed, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. "I don't think I could handle Piedmont after being in Gravity Falls. I would be stuck making fun of a bunch of b-movies by myself!"

"Ooh yeah, that does sound like it would suck. Hey, though, that does get me thinking. With running, especially when you're starting out, it's good to take a break every couple a' days, just to let your body recover. Whaddya say we take today off to celebrate you stayin' and have a "movie morning?" I'm pretty sure they're airing "the Mildly Attractive Vampire that Could Step in the Sun but Not Without 100 SPF Sunscreen" right now."

Dipper chuckled. "Hey, kinda sounds like me, minus the mildly attractive part."

Wendy glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow. "Hey man, don't sell yourself short."

Dipper flushed bright, bright red. Thankfully, Wendy had already shifted her attention to her tv, where she pulled up quite possibly the cheesiest vampire movie ever made. There was no shortage of things to pick on, from the clearly fake plastic fangs to the stock sound effects. Neither Dipper nor Wendy saw the hooded figure perched on a tree outside, looking in with the binoculars. The man grinned and shimmied down the tree. Things were going quite well, and nobody had the slightest idea.

**...**

Before either teen realized it, it was time for Wendy to go to work. They climbed out of the window and down to the Northwest golf cart. The whole way, Dipper's mind was on Wendy's comment from earlier. _Don't sell yourself short? Did she really mean that I was attractive? Or did she just mean cute, like an adult sees a little kid? Or maybe she didn't actually mean anything, and she was just trying to make me feel better?_

His train of thought was interrupted when they arrived back at the golf cart and found an envelope on the seat. The only words on the front were "Ice Bag and Pine Tree." Dipper moved to pick it up, but Wendy held out her arm to stop him.

"Dude, it could be a trap from the guy that threw a brick through your window or some junk like that! Be careful!"

"I will," Dipper promised before picking up the envelope. He held it up to the sun to try and look through it, but the paper inside blocked out the whole thing, so he couldn't see anything. Next, he cautiously felt the envelope. Everything felt flat, so it was unlikely that there was a bomb or anything else dangerous. Finally, Dipper slowly opened the envelope and pulled out the sheet of paper. He read aloud the message that was written.

**They know you're there**

**They won't attack you directly**

**Watch out for prying eyes**

At the bottom of the piece of paper was another piece of the map! Dipper pulled out his journal and made a copy of the map segment while Wendy copied down the message in her own journal. Once they were done, the teens hopped into the golf cart and took off towards the Shack.

…

"So you said that this message was left on the seat of your golf cart while it was parked at the Corduroy residence?" Dipper and Wendy both nodded in answer to Ford's question. "So whoever it is is actively watching you. Wherever you go, just keep a lookout for any suspicious figures."

"Grunkle Ford, we were wondering," Dipper said. "Why was the first clue hidden inside a giant gnome machine that was made to harm us, while the second was just set out in the open?"

Ford sighed. "Dipper, I know about as much as you do. I'll do some research into cults and secret societies in the region, but I don't think I'll turn anything up."

"Sounds good, Mist- Ford," Wendy caught herself, causing Stanford to grin. "Is there anything Dip or I can do?"

Ford shook his head. "Not today, I'm afraid. It'll just be a lot of book work capable of boring even Dipper."

Wendy raised her eyebrows. "Oh. Wow. Yeah, I'll just work in the shop. See ya around!" The redhead strolled away, and Dipper soon followed.

…

"Oh, uh, hey there kiddo! Did you end up not having to leave?" Grunkle Stan wandered into the gift shop, where Wendy was managing the gift shop counter and Dipper was sweeping the floor.

"Nope! Our parents moved up here!" Dipper watched his Great Uncle pretend to be surprised and had to admit that he did a pretty good job.

"Oh, really? That's great! Uh, where are they livin'?"

"They moved into the Northwest place." Dipper grinned. "They said that some cranky old man around here recommended it to them."

Stan seemed surprised that Dipper knew, but decided to play along. "Really? Who is he, and what is he doin' here? I should be the first to know about any competition!"

Dipper shrugged. "I don't know. All Dad told me was that he owns some dilapidated tourist trap where all he does is scam people."

"Well," Stan said, finally giving up the game. "I have no idea what dilapidated means, but I'll take that as a compliment. So, you kids gonna stay here at the Shack at all, or are you gonna leave a poor old man like me all alone?"

"As tempting as that second choice sounds, we'll probably stay here on weekends, if that's alright."

Right as Dipper finished speaking, Mabel burst through the gift shop door and ran over to hug Stanley. "Grunkle Stan! We get to stay in Gravity Falls! Our dad isn't really taking us back to Piedmont!"

Stan hugged her back and said, "That's what your knucklehead brother was just tellin' me! He was also sayin' that you two'll still stay here on the weekends?"

"Yup!" Mabel nodded happily. "And I'll still have sleepovers and everything else! Hey, it's like you said! It'll be like I never even left! I'm gonna go make origami Stans to celebrate! Mabel, away! " With that, Mabel ran off. Thankfully, she didn't try to jump backwards onto a horse again.

"Huh. Betcha I can sell those. Go tell your sister to make fifty of 'em. There should be some paper in the back." Stan got distracted by the sound of air brakes outside and glanced out the window. "Ooh! Tourist bus! That sucker's packed! I wasn't expecting one of those so late in the season. Look alive, people! Let's make some money!" "Mr. Mystery" walked outside to greet the visitors, leaving Dipper standing in the middle of the gift shop.

"Hey Soos?" Dipper called out. The handyman came out of the back room holding a box of donuts that was clearly intended for a large party. The box was about halfway empty and decreasing quickly. Soos grabbed a glazed donut, shoved the whole thing into his mouth, chewed briefly, and swallowed.

"Yeah dude? Watcha need? You want some donuts? These things are delicious!"

"Soos, where did you even find those?" Dipper looked closer at the box and noticed a CGI design that was clearly from the early 2000s.

"You remember my old break room, the one with the hot pipe in it?" Dipper nodded. "I found these stashed away in there! I wonder if there's more donuts! Oh man, I hope so!" The handyman pulled out another donut and crammed it into his mouth.

Dipper shook his head. How was Soos still alive? "Anyways, I was wondering. Do you know where the origami paper is? Stan wants Mabel to make a bunch of paper Mr. Mysterys."

"Oh, dude, that'll be so cool! Not only can your sister cook, she is also a master of all things artistic! Anyways, yeah I know where the paper is. Follow me, dude!" Soos led the way, still downing donuts at a concerning rate.

…

"Here you go dawg! A bunch of fancy origami paper, as promised! Hey, once she's done, do you think Mabel could make a little me? That would be sick, dude!"

"I'm sure she'll be able to do something. Huh. Maybe we could get an origami Pines family!"

"Truly, your sister is a gift from God. We have been blessed!"

…

"Grunkle Stan wants me to make 50 origami hims?" Dipper nodded and handed his twin the paper that Soos had found. "I won't make 50 Stans. I'll make two hundred! Before noon!"

Dipper shrugged. "Just make sure you save enough paper to make a little Soos. He asked for one, and I think it would make him pretty happy."

Mabel's eyes lit up. "You got it, bro-boat! Mabel is totally on it! Now leave! Folding paper is a delicate art that requires my utmost concentration!" She slammed the door in his face, but Dipper was pretty sure he could hear her making pig sounds to Waddles.

Dipper strolled back downstairs, where Wendy was ringing up the last few stragglers from the tourist bus. Once she was done, the redhead leaned back and looked nonchalantly over at Dipper. "Hey man, how's it goin'? Any luck with that paper for Mabel?"

"Yeah," replied Dipper, "Soos knew where to find some. I guess now I don't have anything to do."

Wendy sighed. "Same here, man. It'll be a while 'til the next tourists come. It really slows down here after Labor day. Hey," she said, sitting up. "We haven't had roof time since the apocalypse. Whaddya say?"

"Uh, yeah, sure! Sounds great! I'll get the Pitt!"

"Cool. See ya up there." Wendy strolled over to the ladder and pulled herself up, only touching every other rung. Dipper dug around in the fridge and found two colas right next to some unidentifiable meat. He shuddered. How did any food manage to look so… unnatural? There were some questions that even Dipper didn't want to answer.

As he opened the hatch up to the roof, Dipper squinted in the bright sunlight. "Ack! The sun! It burns! Quick, grab the sunscreen before I am sunburned faster than average!" He spoke in the same horrendous attempt at a Transylvanian accent that the actor from the movie earlier.

Wendy quickly caught on and played along. "Eek! A vampire! Maybe if I spray 100 SPF sunscreen all over it it will melt away! I really hope that it doesn't just make it able to come out in the sun!" She shook up an imaginary bottle of sunscreen and pretended to spray it all over Dipper.

"Mwahahah! You've fallen right into my trap!" Dipper opened the hatch a little further before stopping. "Ack! The back of my neck has no sunscreen! It would be awful if someone were to put some on there!"

"Hey, maybe that's your weakness! Yeah, I bet it is!" Wendy sprayed some more of the imaginary sunscreen on the back of Dipper's neck.

Dipper opened the hatch fully and climbed up onto the roof. "You fool! Now I can suck your blood! Or," he said, finally breaking character, "maybe just some Pitt." He pulled the two cans of cola from his vest and handed one to a laughing Wendy.

"Oh man," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "We gotta do that more often."

"Deal." The teens cracked open their pop and clinked cans before they both took long sips. They sat in companionable silence as they drank, until Dipper finally broke it. "Wendy, you remain the coolest person I know."

The redhead chuckled before replying, "Right back at cha, dude. Right back at cha."

"Wait," Dipper said, not daring to hope. "You mean it? I'm really the coolest person you know?"

Wendy laughed even more. "Of course, man! Do you think anyone else in this town could handle the apocalypse like you did? Or, for that matter, any of the weird stuff in this town like you do?" Dipper shook his head. "Well there ya go." The pair returned to comfortable silence, looking out into the woods.

…

"Now presenting… All 200 mini Grunkle Stans and one mini Soos, as promised!" Mabel swung the attic door open so that her audience of Soos, Stan, Dipper, and Wendy could see what she had been up to for the last two hours. All four of them eagerly looked into the room, but Mabel noticed confusion quickly appear on their faces. Turning around, she was shocked to find that all of her Stans were gone. Somehow, the Soos was still there, on the floor right in the middle of the room. "Wait, what? They were all here just a minute ago! Where did they all go?"

"Dunno," said Stan. "Maybe the pig ate 'em. Why do bad things always happen to copies of me?"

Stan, Soos, and Wendy all headed back downstairs to take care of some tourists that had just arrived. Dipper and Mabel searched around the attic room, but they didn't find any trace of the origami Mr. Mysterys. Finally, right as they were going to give up, Dipper heard Soos say "Hey there dudes! You're lookin' for all the Mr. Pineses, right?" Dipper turned to the door expecting to see Soos there, but he was confused when there was no sign of the handyman. "Down here, dawg!" Dipper looked down and was surprised to see the origami Soos moving around and talking to him.

"Woah woah woah, you're alive? How?"

Paper Soos shrugged. "I think the paper was, like, enchanted or somethin'!"

Mabel asked, "So the Stans weren't taken, they ran off?"

"Yeah hambone! They just took off into that hole so they could get into the walls!" Mini Soos pointed at where the Stans had escaped.

"So why didn't you go with them?" Dipper asked, furrowing his brows.

The origami handyman shrugged. "I didn't feel like it. They didn't have donuts, and I like real Stan a lot better."

Dipper pulled out his journal and started writing down notes and making speculations. "Mabel, I'll go tell everyone else what happened. You stay here and make sure that paper Soos stays safe and that Waddles doesn't eat him."

"Hey," paper Soos said, "that sounds like it would be kinda fun!" He paused and then frowned. "On second thought, I think getting eaten would hurt."

Dipper stepped out of the attic room, and as he shut the attic door he heard Mabel say, "Ooh, maybe if I make an origami donut it'll taste like a real donut to you!"

Dipper walked downstairs, still making notes about the enchanted origami paper. He rounded up Wendy and Ford to tell them what happened. "Okay," he began, "from what I understand, the paper that Mabel used to create the origami Grunkle Stans and Soos was apparently enchanted, similar to the wax figures from earlier this summer. All of the Stanleys ran off and are now in the walls, but the Soos stayed. Mabel has him up in our room right now. He's exactly like the real Soos, except he's obviously made of paper."

"Fascinating! I wonder if the paper already had sentience but had no method of movement, or if it only gained consciousness when it was folded into a human?"

"Well," Wendy said, "Dip said that the little Soos was just like the real Soos. That means that his personality is just like Soos', right?" Wendy looked over at Dipper, who nodded. "So if the paper was already able to think or some junk like that, then it would probably have a personality of its own. Instead, it got one when it was folded."

Ford was impressed. When she applied herself, Wendy could be quite intelligent. "Good thinking, Wendy! Now, I think the bigger worry we have here is whether the origami Stanleys will be cooperative or not. If they are benign, then I don't think we'll have a problem." Ford sighed. "Unfortunately, if, as I fear, they are as stubborn as my brother, it will be quite difficult to deal with them. Maybe Mabel will be capable of bringing them around."

The three headed upstairs, where Mabel was currently trying to find the strangest food she could fold for origami Soos. "Dude," the paper man said, taking a bite of folded filet mignon. "These are amazing! I could sit here all day!"

"Aw thanks Soos, I could make these all day! What next?"

"Make a pizza! Make a pizza!"

Dipper cut in. "Hey Mabel? I hate to interrupt, but we have an idea to get the Stans out of the walls. Do you think you could try to talk to them and see if they would be willing to come out?"

"But Dip, why is it a problem that they're in the walls in the first place? I think having a bunch of little paper guys living here would be awesome!"

"Mabel," Ford said, kneeling down. "The problem is that they are all copies of my brother. What that means is that they're going to be looking out for any opportunity to make money, which in turn means that they will likely start stealing things like car keys, items from the gift shop, and maybe even tourists' wallets. It would be best to take care of the problem before that happens."

"Ooh, yeah, I didn't really think about the fact that they're all like Grunkle Stan. What do you want me to say to them?"

Dipper shrugged. "Just try talking to them, maybe offer a bribe or something. If they really are just like Grunkle Stan, we can probably just offer them money."

"Alright," said Mabel, turning to where the paper Stans ran off. Putting her mouth against the hole, she yelled "HEY STANS!" and then backed away, watching.

Everyone waited with bated breath for about fifteen seconds before they got a response. There was a shuffling sound, followed by several improvised not-quite-swear-words. Finally, one paper Stan came stumbling out of the hole. He turned back to the opening that he came from and shook his fist. "I'll show you idiots 'closest to the exit!' Anyways," he said, turning around to face Ford, Dipper, Mabel and Wendy. "We heard you talkin' out here, and we've decided that we will agree to leave on one condition. You have to pay us fifty smackaroos."

Dipper was slightly taken aback. Fifty dollars? That's all it would take to deal with them? "Uh, okay, I'm sure we can get the money from the cash register. That shouldn't be too hard."

Paper Stan shook his head. "I don't just mean fifty bucks. I mean fifty _each_."

"Oh." Dipper quickly multiplied in his head. "You want us to pay you ten thousand dollars?"

"Yup! It's either that, or things start disappearing. Your choice."

Wendy sighed in irritation. "Look man, I know you think like Stan, but try not to act like him. I'm sure that if you guys come out of the walls, we can work somethin' out. Maybe Mabel could fold you guys, like, an origami mansion or whatever. Point it, you gotta live somewhere else."

"Or what? What can you do about it? There's two hundred of us and only four of you. Good luck with that!"

"Well," Wendy said calmly. "We could always just burn down the Mystery Shack. Then you and all the other Stans would burn with it."

Surprise flashed over paper Stan's face, but he recovered quickly. "Ha! You wouldn't burn this place down!"

Wendy shrugged. "I wouldn't, but the townsfolk might if they knew just what Stan Pines has done."

The origami Stan narrowed his eyes at her. "You tryin' to blackmail me? Ha! Good luck gettin' anything on me! I have all of Stan's memories, and there's nothin' you can use to get the idiots in town to burn down the Mystery Shack!"

"Are you sure about that?" Wendy asked. She smiled when she noticed Mabel's creation start to fidget nervously. "I've been working here for two whole summers now. I know some things that even Dip and Mabel don't know."

Now Stan started to look _really_ uncomfortable. "Y- you're bluffing! I can see it in your eyes!"

Wendy shrugged. "I dunno man, am I? It's your decision." She turned and walked out of the room. Stan took off running towards the hole that he came from. Ford, Mabel, and Dipper heard muffled shouting, several gasps, and watched as all two hundred Stans came pouring out of the hole like water out of a pipe.

"Alright," said the Stan in the lead, likely the one that they had been talking to. "Ya got us. What now?" Wendy came back into the room at that moment, holding a pet carrier. Wordlessly, she opened it and pointed at it. "No way, Jose!" origami Stan complained. "There is _no_ way we're gettin' in that thing!"

In response, Wendy pulled out her phone and opened it. "Let's see," she muttered under her breath. "Lazy Susan… Lazy Susan… her number's in here somewhere…"

The Stans quickly stopped grumbling and filed into the carrier. Mabel counted them as they made their way in. "198… 199… 200! They're all there!"

As soon as the older twin hit two hundred, Wendy slammed the door on the front of the carrier shut and draped a sheet over it. "Alright, now where do we take 'em? I don't think we can just burn 'em."

Mabel's eyes lit up as she had an idea. She leaned over and whispered in Ford's ear, who nodded and picked up the cat carrier. The twins and Wendy followed him out to the Stanleymobile, where he loaded the Stanleys into the trunk. As they drove, Dipper turned to Mabel and asked "Hey, where are we taking these guys? We can't dump 'em in town, or they just become a problem for someone else."

Mabel grinned at her brother. "Don't worry, Dippendots! I have a plan!"

After several minutes of driving, the four pulled up to the Gravity Falls mini golf course, which already had a "closed for season" sign put up. Ford frowned. "Mabel, if they're closed for the season, then I don't think this will work. Do you have any other ideas?"

"Eh," Mabel said, flapping her hand at Grunkle Ford. "It's only closed for the season if you don't know how to sneak in." She hopped out of the car, pulled out her grappling hook, and took off over the fence surrounding the course. Dipper heard a thud, followed by an "I'm okay!"

"Uh, is there a way for the rest of us to get in?" Ford asked, looking concerned.

Dipper showed Ford and Wendy the loose board that he and Mabel used when they broke in last time. It took a bit of jiggling, but they were able to get the cat carrier through. Once all three were inside, they saw Mabel pulling out her sticker book. "Lilliputtians!" she called. "I have stickers for you guys if you do something for me!"

Ford and Wendy watched with shock as the leader of each hole came out to meet Mabel. The Dutchman was the first to speak. "Hey!" he said angrily. "We told you never to come back here!"

"Yeah," said Mabel, "but I have something to ask of you guys."

"And why would we help you?"

"Any hole that volunteers to help me gets a sticker! I made sure to bring enough for everyone this time!"

The anger on the Lilliputtians' faces quickly died and they started whispering to each other about stickers. "Okay," said the Dutchman, "you have our interest. What do you want us to do?"

Mabel gestured to the cat carrier. "Inside there are 200 little paper people. All you guys have to do is take 'em in. Who knows? Maybe they'll be your friends!"

"Arr!" Cried the pirate. "I call a meetin'!" The eighteen representatives gathered by the ship and began to whisper among themselves. Finally, once they were done, the pirate announced "Aye! We'll take yer deal!"

Wendy unlocked the cat carrier and flipped it so that all of the Stans came tumbling out. One of them sat up, looked around warily and asked "What is this, the mini-golf course?"

"Yup!" said Mabel. "It's your new home!"

The paper Stan made his way over to the Dutchman and began talking to him. The only snippet of their conversation that Dipper could hear was when the Dutchman said "A casino hole? Hmm, I like the idea…" It seemed that the Stans would do well here.

"Oh!" Mabel exclaimed. "I almost forgot!" She pulled the origami Soos out of her pocket and held him up. "Hey mini-Soos, do you wanna stay here with the Stans? You could be their mini-golf handyman!"

The paper Soos looked sad. "I mean, I can stay here if you want me to, but the Shack is like my home. I don't know if I could just leave it behind."

"Then why don't you stay at the Shack with us? There are a lot of places that are too small for big Soos to get!"

"You mean it dude?" Mini-Soos looked quite happy. "That would be sweet!"

"Hmm," Mabel looked thoughtful. "If you're going to stay, then we can't just keep calling you paper Soos! We have to get you a different name!"

"Ooh! What about Pedro? I always wanted to be called Pedro!"

"Pedro it is!" Mabel put Pedro back into her pocket and distributed stickers to the leader of each hole. "One for you! And one for you! Ooh, you get the taco one! Take care of it!" Once she was done, she whispered to her twin "Now let's get out of here before they attack us with axes again." Dipper nodded silently, and all four of them loaded back into Stanley's Cadillac. Ford excitedly asked Dipper questions about the Lilliputtians the whole way back to the Mystery Shack.

"So they control everything that happens on the mini-golf course?" Dipper nodded. "I wonder if they're a global phenomena or just a localized Gravity Falls anomaly? Next time we go on a big trip, we'll have to stop at other mini-golf courses and check."

"Fine by me!" exclaimed Mabel.

Stan greeted them at the door when they got back to the Shack. "So didja find out what happened to the mini me's?"

Dipper and Mabel glanced at each other. If they told Stan that the paper copies of him were alive, but they gave them away, then he would be pretty upset. "Uh," said Dipper. "Yeah. Toby Determined took them to make an idol to you."

"Yeesh!" Stan winced. "Yeah, that freak can keep 'em. There's probably like twenty diseases on them by now!"

A muffled question came from Mabel's pocket. "Hey, are we back at the Shack yet?"

Stan looked around. "What the? Soos, was that you? Where are you? I thought I told you to fix the fridge!"

The handyman came out of the back room, screwdriver in hand. "You did! And I kinda fixed it! It's taken apart right now, and I just need to figure out how to put it back together!"

Stanley, looking confused, strolled back to the living room, muttering "You're losin' it Stan. You're losin' it."

Mabel, Dipper and Wendy burst out in laughter, and even Ford joined in. Soos laughed too, before stopping abruptly and asking "So what're we laughin' at, dudes?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: No update next week, since I'm going on an ATV trip. See you guys in June!


	8. Chapter 8

Alright, I don't know how to really say this well so I'm just going to get it over with. I still love Gravity Falls and it remains one of my favorite cartoons of all time. That being said, I just don't have the inspiration to write this fic as well as I once did, and I wanted to make something official to say that I'm not continuing this fanfiction. I'm sorry to everyone who has been waiting for an update. If anybody would like to adopt this fic or even idea, consider this formal permission to do so. I love the premise and I think it has a lot of potential, I just no longer think that I'm going to be the one that helps it realize that potential. Thank you so much to my readers who supported me. It was a wild ride.

Thanks again, Fox

(P.S. No idea if any of you are Naruto fans, but I'll be putting up a fic for that soon so keep an eye out.)

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Alright, that was Chapter One! Sorry if it was a little dialogue heavy, other chapters will have more action and less chat. Please review and let me know what you think!


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